Richard Gray's Comic Reviews

Westerns and the Marvel universe were made for each other, having at least a sense of vigilante justice in common, and Gerry Duggan's recasting of familiar heroes in Western tropes is a joyous celebration of both.

It really is the Wild West as familiar faces get shot down, and the good guys and bad guys can be as clearly delineated as they like. Nik Verella's pitch-perfect art is gorgeously dust-covered and ridden off into the sunset by top-shelf colorist Lee Loughridge, a knowing mix of dime store funny book charm and a modern impressionistic view of the genre.

In many ways, 3 Devils is an ideal first issue, putting all the pieces in place to bring the two protagonists together and literally send them off down the road for their next adventure. It's also somewhat safe in its characterization for the moment, but nevertheless suggests that both of these characters are more than they initially appear. While Hampton only gives us the barest of hints as to what might be coming next, he does convince us that the focus of the book will be on the characters going forward, taking them from the familiar to something entirely new.

Alpha King is a difficult one to examine objectively: the story is absolutely bonkers and makes little to no sense, its a thinly-veiled piece of marketing for a beer, and there's at least one gratuitous shot of a cat's hairy testicles. All three of these things make it completely at one with the metal heritage it embodies, cranking the volume up way past eleven with art that is designed to punch you squarely in the face. This may all become a little clearer in the next issue, but for now it is probably best to finish off that six-pack, crank up the tunes and let this one wash over you.

A comic based on a beer of the same name is an unlikely prospect for success, but this metal-as-anything salvo from Brian Azzarello, Nick Floyd and Steve Bisley is a twisted and irreverent biker epic with a Lobo-esque lead who is anything but a hero.

A Voice in the Dark signals a new voice on the scene, one with a clear concept and a firm notion of what makes a rich story with a decent hook. While readers may certainly notice some nods not only to the aforementioned 80"s influences, but also more recent fare such as TV's Dexter, Taylor's strong cast of characters distinguishes this. It's early days yet, and we've only seen the initial incisions into Cutter's Circle. We're looking forward to taking a deeper slice in the months to come.

If you haven't given A Voice in the Dark a chance yet, now is a perfect time to jump on. With fresh blood on the campus lawn, Taylor provides an easy access point to his growing world of the delightfully grim town of Cutter's Circle. It's a world that beckons us to get comfortable, because the surprises it holds are only just beginning to bob above the surface.

A Voice in the Dark: Get Your Gun is a series reinvigorated, and remains a clever blend of 1980s black comedy and serial killer drama. The reveal of Zoey's counterpoint, if that is indeed who this new character is, marks a foil for an already interesting lead that challenges assumptions about comic book heroes. We hope that this is the first of many more ofTaylor's series, as things are starting to get hotter.

Returning to the core story's strength of the anonymity of two killers conversing on live radio, Taylor builds up the tension nicely in this new arc that reveals a killer, but one that may not be alone in town.

A-Force is a title that would be on the top of the heap were it not for its Secret Wars origins. Just as Spider-Woman began to soar when it was divorced of the Spider-Verse tie-in, Marguerite Bennett and G. Willow Wilson's showcase for Marvel's strong top-tier female leads is precisely the team that the world needs right now - it's just hampered a bit by the fact we know their status quo on Battleworld is to be short-lived.

Ben Oliver's art nicely compliments this change of direction in story, and there's also a nice little backup in which Sholly Fisch draws Morrison's background to the Captain Comet and Neo-sapiens story.

Diggle's setting could just as easily fit within Mark Waid's Birthright origin universe as it does within the so-called New 52, handily drawing on traditional elements in a newish setting. The dichotomy between old and new is nicely demonstrated in Tony S. Daniel's ultra-slick modern interiors, especially the vision of Superman's outfit literally forming underneath his open shirt. It's an exciting story, and it is simply a shame that Diggle won't be going any further.

A real treat this month is a back-up story by Scott Lobdell and Philip Tan called "The World of Krypton". It deals with a younger Jor-El, and an assassination attempt on the science council during Krypton's pre-kaboom days. This intriguing plot will presumably play out over the next few issues, as we continue to plumb Superman's heritage in this new DC continuity.

Tony S. Daniel takes on scripting and art duties on the main story, based on a plot by Diggle, and Superman continues to punch things while his powers diminish under a faux red sun. It's an old-fashioned monster smack-down, which is fine, but we can't help but feel as though we've seen quite a few of those since the start of the Newish 52.

The final page promises we will see more of this character in 2013, and from this brief introduction, it will certainly take the book to interesting places under the guidance of new writer Andy Diggle, who joins Action Comics with #18 in March. Sook's art is also quite eye-catching, telling the story in a cinematic fashion, in keeping with Landis's sensibilities. A solid example of what an annual should do: provide some one-off stories while teasing things to come in the monthly title.

The unique approach to Adam.3 might not work all of the time, and is essentially a spin on a very traditional story, but it will undoubtedly have you thinking about it after you've put the book down. Kolins has created something new out of some clear influences, and it is undoubtedly a labor of love that has gone into producing it. There is enough here to warrant at least a second look, and a solid world to continue building upon.

The best reason to pick this up is for the art. Samnee brings a grounded feel to his run on Daredevil with Mark Waid, and the street-level fight between Supes and "bad guy" Leon certainly contains similar elements. It's also filled with iconic shots, as the Man of Steel comes rushing towards the reader, we almost feel as though he's about to burst through our screens. Plus: Superman punching himself in the face. 'Nuff said. If this is a sign of what DC's digital comics have to offer, then sign us up immediately for more of the same.

Afterlife with Archie is the Archie book for people who don't read Archie Comics, or perhaps the fringe group of horror fans that have always wanted to read an Archie comic. Peppered with references to pop culture, it's a genuine horror story and proof positive that a good Elseworlds-style mash-up doesn't require a line-wide reboot, but is simply a matter of taking two top creators and letting them run wild.

Bryan Hitch's art is dark and gritty, reminiscent of his work on The Ultimates. His final page on this issue might just be the most heartbreaking of the series, but this is only getting started. Climb on board with this series, as we have the feeling that this is not only going to be one of the bigger events of the year, but one of the best written as well.

On the surface, this is a fun piece of time travel/parallel universe capering, although somewhat reminiscent of Bendis's House of M and the Age of Apocalypse/X-Treme X-Men/X-Termination story arcs that have done it all before. More troubling is that this is no longer the Age of Ultron, the world Bendis spent half-a-dozen issues slowly building up with talk-fests that we still hold out hope will lead somewhere. Without warning we are in a third dimension, one that seemingly bears little relevance to what has come before

Now this is just getting silly. Or as Tony Stark puts it, "a Fantasia of insanity". Set entirely in the altered future brought about by AU Wolverine and Susan Reed killing Hank Pym in the past, where we also spent last issue, Bendis has begun to repeat many of the earlier sins in the series. He has merely transplanted them to a new setting.

The issue is actually an engaging conclusion in and of itself, and is aimed right at that inner 12-year-old that wants to cheer at the climax of movies. However, that simply reminds us of the misplaced promise we invested in this often unwieldy series, one that lurched from scene to scene only pausing to pat itself on the head in self-satisfaction. Perhaps the most disappointing element to this final issue, and Age of Ultron generally, is that it didn't accomplish anything more than a gateway to a new title and era for the Marvel U. Effectively the flagship that will launch Avengers A.I., Guardians of the Galaxy #5 and Hunger over the coming months, this is what Avengers:X-Sanction was to Avengers Vs. X-Men. Or what Avengers Vs. X-Men was to half of the new Marvel NOW titles. The issue closes out with an ad for the supplemental part of this final issue, Age of Ultron #10A.I., reading "Submit to the beginning of Marvel's next evolution". What other choice do we have?

Of course, if Age of Ultron simply pointed the way to this and other spin-offs, it would be remiss to not notice that this is also an effective zero issue for Sam Humphries's Avengers A.I. However, unlike that predecessor, it managed to do so in a single issue and imbue it with more emotion in 22 pages than Age of Ultron managed in the ten previous entries. If this is a shape of Hank Pym to come, then an ongoing Ant-Man book with Mark Waid at the helm is something we should rise up and demand.

Akaneiro encourages us to go an play the American McGee game, and in that sense it has achieved its primary goal. Yet it does so because it creates such a rich and inviting world that one can't help but wanting to explore it in more depth.

In many ways, Aliens: Defiance feels like a greatest hits package from the first two Alien films, which is going to suit some just fine. At a planned 12 issues, it represents the longest planned Alien title from Dark Horse as well, the Predator crossovers notwithstanding. So bearing this in mind, this first issue only represents a small fraction of a larger whole. Even so, it's hard to see the unique spin that the series offers just yet, but the final page at least offers some enticing hints as to why we should follow the next few steps.

If Aliens: Fire and Stone doesn't completely soar in its first issue, it is only because it's burdened with necessary exposition. We can already see elements of the two existing series coming together, and there is enough intrigue here to keep us coming back for Alien v Predator: Fire and Stone and beyond. For now we can only echo some of the final words in this issue, and sense that there is "so much still hidden beneath the surface."

With the exception of the superbly emotional piece by Mark Waid and Mahmud Asrar, featuring a devastating moment between the Vision and Scarlet Witch, unless you have a particular affinity with any of these characters, there's just simply too little told too briefly here to base any financial decisions on.

The strength of this arc is not only in tying back into previous stories, but in also clearly defining what differing characteristics the two Hawkeyes possess and what what makes them stronger together and apart.

While the issue itself does very little to push the story along until the final few pages of reveals, there's a solid bit of character development here, allowing new readers a chance to work out the dynamics of the different teams.

If this is an exemplar of the New DC Universe, then we are in for a hell of a trip. Ennis and McCrea effortlessly pick up fifteen years after the fact and running with the glorious insanity that is SECTION 8. This might be the only book we need.

This penultimate issue brings us to an unexpected, yet welcome place in the world of Section 8. It's hardly a case of 'too little, too late,' as Ennis has been delivering quality chuckles from the beginning. Yet what we see here is a book that is itself caught in a kind of limbo, wanting to be one kind of gross-out comedy that is equal parts pathos. The mix is almost there, and given the inevitable guest-star for the final issue (teased on the last page of this book), it might just be up, up and away before we say goodbye to these wholly unique characters.

As the series comes to a close, Six-Pack at least remains convinced of his own heroism, but Ennis has already made his point about the futility of the never-ending superhero genre. "This is his world. His dream. Whichever," muses the narrative voice (or is it our own?) "As dreams go... well. I suppose you could do worse." It's rare thing that a comic book feels not only fully complete but deflating at the same time, with a character that appears to be wholly contented within and observably tragic end. As every comic book reader knows, the end of one book is merely the beginning of the next chapter of the endless story.

The worst thing that can be said about Amala's Blade is that there simply isn't enough of it to satiate our newfound craving for this character. Indeed, perhaps the only thing that disappoints about this issue is that it's the end of the story for Amala and her merry gathering of miscreants and mayhem. With any luck, Horton and Dialynas have more like this up their sleeves.

As controversial as Dan Slott's choices have been over the last few years, The Amazing Spider-Man has been given a new lease on life following Superior Spider-Man and the "Spider-Verse" arc. Which is why this issue, effectively an epilogue to the "Spider-Verse" event with everybody saying goodbye and setting up their new jobs, is something of an anti-climax.

This is in many ways a culmination and combination of Slott's Superior Spider-Man with a forward-thinking Peter Parker, and a renewed Prowler team-up that holds lots of promise for the future. Better still, a final tease indicates that Slott isn't done with his previous stories just yet.

Dan Slott's current saga of a villainous Zodiac-themed cooperative seems to have been going on for a while now, and while this issue is very much a thrilling and jovially cheesy conclusion to that chapter, it's also one that's never had the same cache of the more classic Spider-Man villains to support it.

This issue is fairly indicative of the lack of direction Dan Slott's Amazing Spider-Man has from month-to-month, drifting from a contrived fight between Spider-Man and Iron Man (with a Miles Morales cameo) and a far more interesting plot concerning Betty Brant investigating the identity of new "hero" Regent.

At this early stage, it is difficult to tell if this fun diversion from the seriousness of the last year will amount to anything that distinguishes it from the plethora of X-Men books already available on the shelves.

The remainder of the five-part weekly series promises to bring in even more folk heroes of the North Americas, some of which don't even have beards. Yet with an already fully-loaded complement of legends, it is difficult to see how this expansion won't simply compound the problems evident in this first issue. It's a shame, because this has such great potential to be a modern retelling of some of the best tall tales in America's history.

Americatown is an incredibly important story, and a one that is told at a cracking pace, but it doesn't always orient the reader in the process of world-building. For example, one never really gets a sense of the importance of the titular townships, how far the problem has spread or even enough information to fully comprehend the refugee's plight. Even the cliffhanger feels as though there was an intended significance that simply doesn't translate to the reader. So the trade-off between rapid-fire activity and exposition means the latter sometimes comes off second-best, but that's all the more reason to stick around and see how this turns out.

Yet when all is said and done, Angry Birds/Transformers is fairly disposable, an ad built around a slender plot. One of the few saving graces that this isn't the last book of the series is that the next issue is being billed as "Age of Eggstinction" or "Over Hard", and if those quality of jokes are maintained throughout the four-issue mini-series, then we expect to be precisely as pun-ishing as this debut issue was.

Bears, robots, and would-be assassins aside, at its core Ant-Man is a human drama, the kind that Marvel does so well. It's terrific to see that despite several major characters now existing outside the confines of New York, the essence of that dichotomy remains. In fact, in the case of the Scott Lang version of Ant-Man, the "fish out of water" only serves to heighten this notion of the loveable loser, one that we will enjoy checking in with each month.

Spencer's skill is in spinning a yarn that is perfectly in keeping with both the event and the tone of his book to date, while also providing an easy access point for people jumping in from other places (such as the recent film).

As the DC mothership gears up for Aquaman to headline a major film, and a new creative team in the form of Kelly Sue DeConnick and Robson Rocha dive into the pool, Aquaman/Justice League: Drowned Earth is a perfect ship to lead us there. Or as Wonder Woman puts it: "Whatever strange sea he's sailing, it's off the known map" in completely uncharted waters."

If, like us, this is your first journey with the dynamic duo, then it appears to be a terrific place to start. What is immediately disarming is just how funny this book is, filled with terrific dialogue, visual gags and spins on the comic format itself. The artwork is gorgeous to look at as well, perhaps making this Valiant's must-read debut of the year.

One of the most highly-awarded writers of the last few years (Mark Waid) and one of the biggest artists around right now (Fiona Staples) work with 75 year-old character, and the results have been revelatory.

In updating the formula, Archie is no longer just about the hijinks surrounding teen romance, but about the complex landscape that youth have to navigate in learning to become adults. The plots are not so much soap-operatic as reflections of the heighten sense of drama and immediacy that surrounds every moment of emotion as a teenager, and Waid has tapped into the psyche of the youth without having to pander.

Like Gotham Academy, the aim of Arkham Manor is one of pointing a microscope at a specific building in Gotham City, and potentially exploring all the hidden elements within. Unlike that book, this new title has yet to determine how it will be differing itself from any other Batman title, as this first arc has a very familiar "Bruce Wayne undercover" vibe to it. Yet if Duggan can pull the book away from Batman and focus on the manor as a character instead, there is the potentially here for this to be an intriguing new entry to the Bat-verse.

This is a bold marriage of art and story in a way that only comics can truly deliver on. If the uniqueness of comic books is that the reader is the third essential element, joining the dots between the otherwise static panels themselves, then Art Ops is partly about being caught in the middle of that experience. There are some promising ideas teased here that will hopefully pay off in the forthcoming issues, but for now it begins as an clever way of engaging the viewer with a discussion around art imitating life.

Written as a parody of the heist genre, complete with a "How to Do An Award-Winning Heist, in Twenty Two East Steps" playing out over as many panels, and artist Ramon Rosanas gets to have a bit of fun with every single one of them.

At the end of the day, it's a sweet issue, and one that ends with a vicious attack on one of the X-Men, perhaps undermining just how special this issue is. It doesn't break any new ground, but it certainly stands proud as an example of the diverse nature of the Marvel Universe, and the spirit of the original X-Men.

Titan Comics have taken the original 72-page albums and cut them in half for the American market. Given that the robust formatting of the European album offers way more bang for your buck than the U.S. floppies, this is a disappointing move. The story also frustratingly cuts off at an arbitrary point around the 36-page mark. Despite this, the story itself remains as strong as it did in its original format, and this release should ultimately earn these puppers a few more fans across the pond.

In the midst of all this seemingly never-ending Avengers Vs X-Men madness, Bendis delivers a story that is all about character. A single character, in fact. Focusing on Red Hulk, the issue is largely an internal monologue, laid out in a largely dialogue-less format that continues to play with the format, just as Bendis did with the Fear Itself issues last year.

Avengers A.I. arrives as a breath of fresh air after the often stale salesmanship of the event that got us here. The Age of Ultron is over. The Age of A.I. is now. So far, things are looking up for this new age.

Humphries uses this issue to quell any doubts as to whether another Avengers title was needed, populating his panels with a fistful of Datas looking for meaning. What we didn't expect with this title was how much humour would play a part in developing the narrative. Doombot is the comedy smash of 2013"s comic book slate, especially as his recently separated head threatens to return and destroy the Jefferson Memorial in Washington.

The stakes have been raised, and allegiances are starting to crumble, and Bendis knows this. A small victory is also a major setback, and we finally get a sense that this is going somewhere. Kubert's art is unsurprisingly epic, making this a visual treat at the very least.

Adam Kubert really steps up to the plate on the art too, matching the pace inch-for-inch and giving us some glorious splash pages this time around. It's still not perfect, but another three of these and the event will end much better than it started!

More than anything, this first issue demonstrates DeConnick's continuing ability to bring humanity to the superhuman. It may be very much the first chapter in a larger story, but it is one that encourages us to want to spend a little more time with these characters.

It is really difficult to make a judgment on a story based on the first issue alone, and Davis certainly has some worthy elements in play here. Yet Axcend fails to make a good first impression, pinging back and forth between ideas that are already well familiar to audiences. There's absolutely nothing wrong with formula if you are doing it exceptionally well, but so far Axcend just doesn't take it to the next level.

Gale reminds us in the back-matter that the danger of playing with a time travel story is that one can undo all the things that worked in the first place. Back to the Future thankfully avoids that by focusing on the specific moments we never got to see before. This first issue is a mixed bag, and the ongoing appeal is going to depend on the strength of the stories chosen for the next three issues. That said, fans will struggle to not find at least something they like in this, especially given that it is the closest we'll get to Bob Gale writing another series film - at least for now.

On the one hand, Bob Gale and Erik Burnham's slightly compressed version of game logic is a fun read, perfectly at ease in the existing Back to the Future world and true to the voices of the original characters. On the other, it's still an existing story being shifted into a different format, and so far it offers few surprises for those who have already dipped into the game.

A white-knuckle ride of a first issue, it is difficult to not get completely suckered in. Giving us just enough information to demand some more answers, it ticks all the boxes of a debut by inviting us to stay a little longer and find out how this (anti)hero gets out of peril.

Barb Wire is undoubtedly targeted directly at a specific demographic, and perhaps will work best for those who have been patiently waiting for the last two decades for more adventures with the lead. Otherwise it remains something of a bubble in time, a glimpse of what would happen if the dream of the '90s never died, but had to grudgingly accept the passing of time.

Despite its extended length, Barrier rips along at a pace, but never neglects the core characters who will carry us forward. Apart from being a compelling and beautifully crafted read, the 54-page debut issue comes at the bargain price of whatever you feel like paying for it. Of course, it goes without saying that if you want to keep seeing quality comics like this, a couple of dollars from every reader wouldn't go astray.

It's terrific to see DC taking aim at younger readers with their new line-up, and there is a definite charm to Bat-Mite. Some of the references ("Trickle down economics at work!") will undoubtedly go sailing right over the heads of the younger readers, but there's enough one-liners to keep at least the smiles coming. It's a fine start for a limited series, although as yet shows no reason to be an ongoing. The real test will be to see how this performs with the younger audiences.

A lack of consequences also comes with a slight sense of disposability as well, and there is a very fine line being walked here. All-ages doesn't always mean for all tastes, and while previous issues in the series have been quite strong, this one doesn't hit the same heights. What Bat-Mite does retain in every outing is a sense of innocent charm from a bygone era of comics, although it's the kind of format that works best in bite-sized chunks.

A book that continually demands our attention each month, the only frustration is that the final panel flags next month for a "Zero Year" tie-in (from Marguerite Bennett, no less), meaning yet another interruption to what has otherwise been a continuous operatic narrative.

Batgirl #25 mostly functions as a showcase for what is happening in the rest of Gotham while Batman figures out his plan of attack in his own titles. While we are itching to sink our teeth back into Simone's wonderful ongoing tale, Bennett at least uses the arbitrary confines of the "Zero Year" structure as an opportunity to flesh out what is already one of the most interesting leads in the current DCU.

While next month promises another interruption to the flow in the "Gothtopia" tie-in, perhaps a shiny happy interlude is exactly what Batgirl needs after all this darkness. Treating this issue as an end point in Simone's extended arc, it gives the character some modicum of redemption in the eyes of her father, and as was always the case from beginning, from Batgirl's own exacting standards as well.

Simone continues to find new depths to explore in the character of Barbara Gordon, a figure she has been playing with in some form or another for well over a decade. The success of this current incarnation of Gordon is in grounding her as a real person who just so happens to be dealing with extraordinary events. Simone leaves readers with a classic cliffhanger that takes Silver's villainy to new levels of psychosis, while adding to our own as we maddeningly enduring another month waiting for one of the best books in DC's current lineup.

Batgirl is exactly where DC needs to be right now, throwing off-the-wall scenarios at established characters, testing their mettle inside situations that are equally grounded in character and high-adventure. Simone is a master of this kind of storytelling, and along with Red Sonja and Tomb Raider, of crafting strong female leads that eclipse their male counterparts. This latest issue is no exception to that rule.

Taking Batgirl in a new direction is one thing, but shaming her smarts is a disappointment to fans of the character. While her ultimate solution does make nimble use of a QR code (which people totally use, right?), this new Batgirl is a far cry from the one we've come to know over the last three years. As us older fans (in every sense of the word) wave kids off our lawn and return to our whittling, Batgirl has for the moment left us for a sassier younger model.

While it's terrific to see DC committing to a fresh and youthful take on characters, this one seems to be trying a little too hard to appeal to a demographic that they ironically portray as being far too distracted to be of any interest in comics anyway. It's one thing to make her more of an active young woman, it's another to shame her smarts. Batgirl has left its old audience behind, and so now we must quietly retire into the night with our Zimmer frames and boiled lollies.

What may have begun as a cynical marketing attempt to attract a new demographic has evolved into something much more than that, and is perhaps even parodying the very audience that it will most appeal to. Which is why Batgirl has been such a success, balancing that fine line between talking to a younger audience in their own language while never making the mistake of condescending to them.

Batgirl #49 is partially an answer to critics who have been unkind to the neo-Batgirl, including this one who was incredibly skeptical at the initial change of direction. However, the DC Universe is vast and complex, and a Multiverse with infinite possibilities allows for the constant reinterpretation of those icons. In a primarily art-driven piece, coupled with the wonderfully wilful version of the character that Stewart and Fletcher have crafted at the center, this issue of Batgirl is a reminder that every single one of those interpretations is equally valid, and that the malleable nature and core principles of Barbara Gordon's personality are the reasons why she has been so enduring for the past 55 years.

After what felt like a fitting conclusion to the "New 52"/ "DC You" era of last month, Brenden Fletcher has the slightly more awkward task of slotting in his version of Batgirl into the pre-Rebirth world.

There are some stories that don't flow into each other as readily as others, such as the far too convenient inclusion of the Gotham Academy kids for a bit of much-anticipated fan-service. Yet Batgirl Annual #3 is an innovative and original piece that showcases the best that the new DC talent have to offer. If you're looking for a way to inexpensively dip your toes into both Batgirl and Fletcher's other series, this is an excellent starter kit.

Batgirl: Futures End #1 falls short of recasting Barbara Gordon as a drug-fueled revenge junkie, so it never really breaks us away from the mold completely. It turns out that Banegirl had the Dumbo feather in her grasp the whole time, leaving us with a slight "afterschool special" vibe that isn't incongruous with the Babs we've come to know and love. With a "re-invention of Batgirl from the boots up" solicited for the next month, this issue is still a timely reminder that no matter how the character is repackaged to appeal to various demographics, strong female characters are ones that "make themselves a goddess." May Batgirl never leave us completely.

This first issue of Batgirl is a fun and engaging story, and is true to the previous take of the character, but it just feels like it lacks any major consequences. Indeed, the final panel suggests that this was simply the first episode in a series of international jaunts that lay ahead for the Batgirl formerly of Burnside. While there is much to be said for this version of the character, even with its many detractors and fans, it just needs more than a familiar pastiche and a change of locale to maintain ongoing interest from herein.

While it isn’t quite a classic union yet, the Benson sisters have pulled all the necessary bits together to build something that is. Like many of the other books being released under the "Rebirth" banner, much of the first arc is being spent reestablishing some of the good will lost during the "New 52" years. Batgirl and the Birds of Prey is unquestionably a step in the right direction, and we can’t wait to see what a fully-functioning team will look like.

If digital comics are to succeed in cutting through the digital morass and captivating mainstream audiences, there needs to be more of them like Batman '66. Like DC Nation has done for animated fare, this comic provides a lighthearted and easily accessible version of a familiar character that will be sure to please audiences of all ages. Whether it is nostalgia you crave or a chance to turn Batman's permanent frownupside-down, it is difficult to not have a giant goofy grin on your face while swiping your way through this innovative taste of the future of comics.

Tuning back into the same Bat channel as last week, the launch title of DC2 continues to offer an enhanced reading experience that is a joy to participate in. Keeping the story as simple and goofy as the 1960s television series works surprising well on the tablet screen, allowing the reader to push on through the adventure at their own pace.

However, there is a certain sense of familiarity to this ending, a story that promised to be one of the most original in decades, yet failed to live up to its otherwise impeccable development. Buy this just to see the story through to the conclusion, some nice stuff between Bruce and Dick and perhaps for the future significance of this March character.

This is more than just a palette cleaner, prior to next month's #0 origin story and the return of the Joker in #13, but is rather an essential tale of the city which Wayne has fought to protect all of these years. We hope to see more of Harper Row in the future.

Giving the hardworking Greg Capullo a break this month, Andy Kubert delivers an awe-inspiring first half. Witness the shot of Batman taking down a perp in the glow of the Batmobile's headlights. Alek Maleev shifts the tone in the second chapter, delivering a more personalised art style that recalls David Aja (Hawkeye) and Paolo Rivera (Daredevil) in the best way. Snyder and Tynion continue to brove that great Batman stories can still be told in big a small forms.

Even more intriguing is the first part of a back-up story by the very talented James Tynion IV entitled "Ghost Lights", in which Superman and Batman team-up for a supernatural adventures that brings the Man of Steel to his knees. The artwork from Alex Maleev ensures that this is a gritty and frightening tale, the kind of horror story that would fit in nicely in a desperately needed horror anthology.

Concluding the two-part Clayface story brings to an end one less memorable arcs, or more accurately one that is merely treading water between "Death of the Family" and next month's "Zero Year" kick-off. Snyder gives us a new take on the shape-shifting Clayface, resulting in lots of voice-recognition hijinks and the villain coming awfully close to discovering Bruce Wayne's identity. The ultimate resolution is one that feels a bit of an afterthought, although Snyder can scarcely be blamed for not easily slipping a character as ridiculous as Clayface into a modern Bat-setting.

As a classic villain is introduced in the final pages of the primary story, we realise that "Year Zero" is not simply the origin of Batman, but of his entire world. Giving greater strength to the argument that present day Gotham is a a result of the escalation that started the moment Bruce Wayne put on the cowl, Snyder fans the flames on a city that is just starting to hot up. We can't wait to see them ignite and blow the powder keg sky high. This is essential reading for any Batman fan.

Andy Clarke draws the Joker like we've rarely seen him before, expressive and emotional. Perhaps we've just forgotten after months of him running around without a face. Either way, Clarke shows some terrific versatility between the two time zones, with the flashback scenes truly nightmarish at times. It's surrealist and completely bonkers, but here they seem like admirable traits.

While many of these villain's titles are simply de facto "Zero" issues by any other name, at least this one manages to neatly set up an existing headline villain for future appearances within the leading title. With Zero Year still raging for quite some time, it isn't too big a swing to guess that Mr. Cobblepot will feature in Bruce Wayne's formative years in the not-too-distant future.

Putting to one side the immediate gratification of cool origin moments that "Zero Year" has thus far provided, any conclusion that this is leading may ultimately be a hollow one when contemplated for too long. While this story neatly keeps Batman in a holding pattern until "Forever Evil" expires, it has also killed any forward momentum that Snyder's otherwise excellent arcs have provided to date. Let's just hope that "Zero Year" doesn't live up to its name.

If "Zero Year" was about overcoming trauma and dealing recasting Batman's origin in a contemporary setting, then the start of "Endgame" sees Snyder pushing the other end of the spectrum. Batman might ultimately be confronting his own death, or at least brushing up against it, and with those closest turning against him, this is setting up to be a killer arc.

"Endgame" is about to rapidly expand and spill out into the other Bat-titles before it concludes, and this is a shame in many ways. Snyder's arc has been tense and tight so far, stringing us along just as the Joker has pulled Batman's chain. This is where Snyder's storytelling excels, in these focused pitched battles between the Dark Knight and enemies that can truly challenge his supremacy as Gotham's defender. Yet with only one issue of the main arc left, we're left on the precipice of a story that has not simply returned the Joker to comic book pages, but one of the best versions of Batman, as well.

It's always a risky thing when you change a formula that's been in place for eight decades, and Batman has seen this kind of change before. It's not the first "death" of Bruce Wayne, and it certainly won't be the last. Yet somehow Snyder, Capullo and the team have found a balance between radical change for change's sake and experimenting with something new, leaving the escape hatch open for what we can assume will be a return to something more familiar in the future.

As the issue itself suggests, there is little point in pondering whether this is Batman for too long. "You worry about Batman meaning something to people," argues Julia Perry/Pennyworth, "you'll go down fast. If you do it your way, the things you belive in, the things you stad for? Batman will stand for those too." The message from his crew is loud and clear: if Gordon is true to himself, Batman will stand for all of those things as well. Yet Snyder might be reassuring himself here, having rarely shied away from telling the kinds of Batman stories he has always wanted to tell. Even with the bombshell of a closing panel, which leaves us with perhaps the biggest mystery of them all, this issue of Batman is a statement on the Dark Knight, no matter who wears the cowl.

Make no mistake: Snyder's current run with Jim Gordon in the role of the mechanical Batman is a superb shakeup of a familiar continuity. Yet as it touches on salient social issues, including police shootings of unarmed youths and disenfranchised quarters of society, this issue reminds us not just of why Snyder remains such a fan-favorite for the character, but what we have loved about the modern version of the Dark Knight for at least the last 30-plus years.

Tynion and Snyder will, of course, continue their association with the Dark Knight with Detective Comics and All-Star Batman under the Rebirth banner. While Snyder's Batman run has had its incredibly vocal fans and detractors at both ends of the spectrum, his legacy on the character has been ensured with the introduction of some worthy adversaries, and genuinely trying to do something different with an icon that often lends itself to repetition. Tynion, who has been involved in this run almost as long as Snyder, expanding the world with his work on Talon, ends this lengthy run with a stirring embrace of the Batman saga, and just as Bruce Wayne learns by the end of the issue, the best way forward is by honoring that past.

While the issue may be a little exposition heavy at times, Batman Annual #2 manages to tell a compelling solo story while maintaining links to the main title. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in future issues.

While there is some action, particularly in the back half of the issue, this is a mostly character-based psychological drama, and a welcome one at that. Without actually featuring Batman in or out of costume, Tynion gives us some answers around the fine line between heroism and madness. As Bruce explains "what crazy is" to the Riddler, he sums up exactly what separates any version of Bruce Wayne from a villain, and exactly what kind of stuff he is made of at his core.

Yet Tomasi's requiem issue is as close to a perfect single issue as any you might find. If Batman #18 was caught between violent response and finding human connection again, then Batman and Robin #18 is the mournful silent scream of anguish.

It's terrific to see Tim Drake's Futures End story continued, and while it may be disappointing to some that McGinnis is out of the picture (at least for now) it is difficult to argue with a fast-paced action comic that dares to throw new and existing readers straight into a future world and ask us to come along for the ride and revelations, including a bombshell that is dropped on the final page.

There's some nice moments in the Wayne Industries boardroom, and it is great to see some of these characters such as Knight and Squire back on board. No sign of Batwing, but that can only be a good thing. We only hope the main Batwing title can be as discreet and quietly disappear for us. Frazer Irving fills in for Chris Burnham, and provides a similarly pleasing light take on these dark characters, while losing none of their edge.

What is amazing about this issue is that in rapid-fire panels, jumping through various points in Bat-history that Morrison has covered elsewhere, he manages to get to the heart of what makes Talia a compelling villain, love interest and here, an empathetic character as well.

Filled with the same offbeat humour that has characterised his work to date, and with wonderfully vivid art from Burnham, this also marks a turning point for Robin. Nightwing rather flippantly refers to him as "the new dead Robin", in front of Bruce no less, but that is what makes this book work. It also features, to our great delight, the return of BatCow, who seems to have been tended to by Alfred this whole time.

We are glad this book exists, but sometimes its a tough love. The twist at the end of the book is sudden, hence being a "twist", and gives us the hook for issue 5. Who knows if it will be linear, but we mostly hope not. Squirrel.

Coming at a crucial time, this filler issue is a slice of the absurd and as frustrating as an ad break in the middle of a show's climax, taking us not only away from Gotham, but away from Batman completely.

If this ending is less than the sum of its parts, it certainly doesn't fail from a lack of ambition. Grant Morrison has left an indelible mark on the Dark Knight, and superhero comics generally, and we hope there is still a place for this off-beat Bat in the New 52.

After some especially strong one-shots featuring this team-up in JamesTynion IV and Alex Maleev's"Ghost Lights" backup for Batman, the New 52 version of Batman/Superman proves that a mature and compelling union of these characters is possible in an ongoing series. It's early days yet, but Pak and Lee have laid the groundwork for a terrific exploration of what makes these characters tick. It will be interesting to see if the multiversity of the initial story arc can carry the emotional weight of the story they have set up so far.

A major tip of the hat has to go to DC for continuing to try something different with this book, but the corresponding wag of the finger comes in not making it more readily accessible to those new readers or people looking for an escape from the mainstream. We suspect that this will ultimately work best as a collected edition.

The joy of Batman/The Shadow is not just in the engaging story and the top-notch art that would make it a top pick on any given week. What Snyder, Orlando, Rossmo and Plascencia have created is a mystery wrapped in all those elements, one that draws you in with its flagship characters and holds you there with the promise of a rewarding riddle to be solved in future issues.

The showstopper is Jim Lee's art, which has been of a very particular fan-pleasing style for quite some time, and it's wonderful to see him cut loose on a very different BD-inspired approach to pencil and inks, with the latter washes still feeling wet even in the digital format.

The creative team that has brought us the current arc of the Batman: The Dark Knight book almost give us Gotham by Gaslight here, but also surprising with a double-page spread showcasing the madness of the Hatter. It's a great example of the sometimes lost art of single-issue storytelling.

Those hoping for a comic book follow-up to the recent series, or even something continuing the prematurely aborted Caprica, may be disappointed to find that this is based on the original Glen A. Larson series from the 1970s. Yet it's still a great licence for Dynamite to keep exploiting, not least of which when sci-fi masters Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (collectively known as DnA) are aboard for their take on this series.

Following the excessive exposition of Darwyn Cooke's Before Watchmen: Minutemen #1 and the teen angst of Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre #1, Brian Azzarello's take on the hard-hitting Comedian filled us with the potential for hope. Sadly, despite some lovely art from J.G. Jones, Azzarello falls into the same traps that the rest of the series has so far, in explaining that which never needed an explanation.

Yet with three issues to go, Straczynski has already brought us to a place that could readily segue into to Alan Moore's masterpiece. It will be interesting to see if anything that happens from here is anything other that perfunctory.

Bill and Ted Go to Hell #1 is very much an introductory issue, and as such it's hard to fully get a sense of how good this really is. Given the cinematic leaning like watching the first 20 minutes of a film, and all the fun is going to be in watching Bill and Ted interact with the visions and mischief that will find them in the afterworld. Nevertheless, if you enjoyed the previous Bill and Ted's Most Triumphant Return series and can't wait around for Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves to star in a new film, then you could do a lot worse than this.

Given that the story has no real drive to get to the next stage, it's difficult to say whether this is worth coming back for a second outing. Fans will enjoy the stroll down memory lane, and it's fun enough that a monthly outing in this world wouldn't be without merit. Yet it may also benefit from being a one-shot, as there just simply isn't enough substance here to warrant a series.

BIZARRO is one of the most charming books released by DC in a long time. (Or should that be "BIZARRO am worstest most unfriendly book from DC in short time?") Not just perfect for kids, who will love the visual madness of it, but for adults with a pulse as well.

Bizarro is not going to appeal to all tastes, as there will be those looking for the tragic figure of Geoff Johns' B-0 last seen as the failed experiment of Luthor in the pages of Justice League. Yet if the Teen Titans can have their Teen Titans Go!, then Bizarro can happily coexist alongside the rest of the DC multiverse. Perhaps the only problem is that this series has a limited run, at least for now.

A punk-rock spin on Dazzler, but with edge. Put aside any prejudices or cynicism you may have about this reinvention. It's a punk (re)vision that is completely in the spirit of the character, with the right balance of ass-kickery and hooks to lure in new audiences. Put this one on your reading list immediately.

Make no mistake: Black Canary remains one of the most interesting books DC is putting out at the moment, and Fletcher's saga grows more intriguing by the month. It's not so much of it being a "rare misstep" so much as one weighted down by the necessity of launching into a new arc feet first.

Black Canary is a pleasing change of tone for a series that's now almost a year old, giving pre-reboot fans a taste of the old magic. While it's mostly an issue about D.D. finding out who she is outside the context of the band, there's a dynamic between that eclectic group of misfits that is sorely missed in this outing. Perhaps that is the lesson to be taken away here, that Black Canary works best as a character when she has equally strong characters to surround her.

Black Canary is about to embrace part of her legacy by co-starring in the relaunched Green Arrow, and Fletcher, Wu and Jarrell leave us in no doubt that they've restored the kick-ass history of one of DC's most powerful female leads. While it might be a shame that Canary no longer has her own series, having never made it past a dozen issues of a solo title, this perfect mashup of music and comics plugs straight into the mainline of everything that has made Black Canary an essential part of the DC Universe for almost 75 years.

A completely unexpected and wholly welcome addition to a revived genre, and like East of West, it opens a doorway to the weird through the the shopfront of the familiar. The real Ketchum's final words were reportedly, "Good-bye. Please dig my grave very deep. All right; hurry up," before being decapitated by his hanging due to the weight he'd gained in prison. Fortunately for this Ketchum, it seems that we've only just scraped the surface of what promises to be an original new series.

There's more than a little of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips in the DNA of Black Magick, a connection that Rucka has readily copped to during interviews, and how far that develops is yet to be seen. There's a planned thirty issues to this series, so it sounds like there is an end goal in mind. By the end of the first issue we are left with a mystery, and despite all the clues and hints and something more supernatural at play, there is very little but ephemera to make us want to pursue that any further.

Black Market is an noteworthy new title that legitimately has something new to say in the superhero world, even if it does cover some familiar ground. The only potential concern is that for a mini-series, Barbiere has already set up so many potential threads that we won't have them all resolved by the end of the run. Yet that's half the joy of discovery, and we are looking forward to seeing what Barbiere has in store for the rest of the run.

One of the most interesting things about the first chapter of Black Road is that it feels like a complete piece, so this leaves us with the dilemma of not having a mystery hook to latch onto for the next chapter. Nevertheless, the character and world that Wood and Brown have constructed here are well studied and feel as whole as this issue, and the chance to peel back a few more layer of Magnus - not to mention explore the fascinating tensions between the Norsemen and the Christians - is hard to resist.

In an all too familiar trend with recent post-event debuts, Black Widow aims to introduce a hard-drinking killing machine to readers, and for the moment doesn't seem to have much of plan of where to go from here.

The journey of Blacksad is almost the story of America, told from the point of view of the people in the margins. While Blacksad: Amarillo may not be as politically ambitious in its commentary as previous albums, or at least not as overtly as the literal black and white themes in Arctic Nation, it doesn't have to be. Just as America was finding its own voice between the Second World War and Vietnam,Canales and Guarnido allow their lead some light before the darkness, and the narrative is necessarily more lightweight as a result. This is foreshadowed in the final gripping pages of the book, when both we and Blacksad come to the realisation that he can only take a break from the cycle of violence for so lo

While the bottom of the barrel has been scraped clean with this particular revival, Krul compresses something that originally spanned two dozen annuals down to a self-contained and far more focused story. It's a joyful throwback, one that leaves the creative team of plenty of potential opportunities to branch out into different corners of their own universe. Perhaps some of these 'New Bloods' will make their way into the world of DC's Rebirth, ensuring that the dream of the '90s is alive and kicking.

In the debut issue, Krul really gave us a sense of the world his characters inhabited, and it's disappointing that this issue is incremental in its progression. However, one gets the feeling that everything at the moment is a slow build waiting to explode.

Bob’s Burgers undoubtedly works best on screen. However, some knowing writing and a clean artistic translation makes this more than just a cheap cash-in on the success of the television series, albeit one that misses some of the best elements of the show that inspired it. As such, it seems unlikely that this book could have the longevity of the series, due to enter its fifth series next month. Now: is it only a matter of time before we get that Archer comic? Sploosh.

This joy of discovery is really the appeal of The Bounce, and the expectation that the unexpected is only a few pages away. Finding new takes on the superhero genre is becoming increasingly difficult, and while this first issue may not have the same impact as Casey's Sex, we get the same feeling that he is still setting us up to knock us down later.

Ending on yet another cliffhanger, it is getting difficult to continually convince ourselves that the payoff will be worth a few months of water-treading frustrations. The Bounce began as, and remains, an intriguiging concept worth pursuing, but we can only follow it so far. It will be interesting to see if this arc begins to lead us somewhere next month.

Like the character of Joe Toomey, Bruce Lee: The Dragon Rises is an affable throwback to the 1970s. Bruce Lee fans who also read comic books will actually find more it has more common with the comedic/espionage plotting of a Jackie Chan classic, but the combination mostly works. While this probably would have worked better as an extended one-shot, the mystery around Lee's return and the group behind it provides enough mystery to warrant at least a second look.

Perhaps it is simply that up until now, Captain Marvel has been a very personal journey about one of Marvel's most interesting characters, and this issue demonstrates that there is a danger of her being lost in the noise.

Captain Marvel #1 leaves us on a cliffhanger that takes Carol in a very different direction to what has come before, and this rapid change of direction signals a creative team willing to take some chances. It also means that there's still some more exposition to come. After this kitchen sink approach to the first book in the series, it's evident that these creators have the core of the character down pat, and it will be great to see this team settle into something more focused.

Picking up from the events of Age of Ultron and Hunger, this tightly packed issue kicks the series off with several bangs, whimpers and lightning bolts. It's light on plotting, with Mile Morales/Spider-man, the Ultimates and Fantastic Four helplessly throwing themselves against the jolly purple giant to no avail. Yet it has an epic grandeur to it that feel as though it is all headed"somewhere.

Cavalry: 50 Years of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a familiar albeit engaging foray into the crossover world between television and comics. Several references to "Doombots" mean that this doesn't sit entirely in a Marvel Cinematic Universe that is devoid of Fox-owned Fantastic Four characters, but nevertheless opens up the characters of the television series to a slightly larger world, even if it is in passing conversation. By no means essential reading for either fans of the TV series or readers of the S.H.I.E.L.D. ongoing, it's a rapid one-off story that is designed purely to keep fans of May happy.

There are plenty of great ideas here, which is exactly what a first issue should deliver, and it will be interesting to see if Niles can start pulling these strands into narrative in the coming months.

Niles has now given us any number of threads to follow, not least of which are several that have been dropped somewhere between the first and second issue. This has all the promise of a lengthy ongoing series for Image if the book can maintain this standard going forward. It's just crazy enough to work.

At this early stage, Civil War II suffers some of the problems that have beleaguered similar narratives in recent years, principally in seeing heroes all too quick to take sides against comrades on a possible future. Indeed, Bendis has set big goals for himself in the past with events built around time travel and alternate timelines, and this series is a variation on some of those recent themes. Yet this is also just the beginning of something much larger, and while it may seem at times like this is an extended version of the "zero" issue that preceded it, all the pieces are now in place for the "war" proper to commence.

Clean Room is a mystery from the start, one that has multiple paths laid out before us. Chloe's self-affirming "Let's see what f--king havoc a journalism degree can create" isn't just a cool line worthy of Spider Jerusalem himself, but a challenge taken on by Simone to see how far down the rabbit hole these notions go. A first issue that is equal parts thrilling and ominous, this has all the makings of an outstanding series.

Although this is undoubtedly not the Constantine of old, Lemire and Fawkes fundamentally get the character and infuse him with enough of his roguish charms to make him a sufficient bastard for this debut series. Instantly giving off a cinematic supernatural detective vibe, this first action-packed issues rips along at a great pace, throwing in just enough intrigue to make us want to see more in the second issue.

This terrific creative team brings a fresh new spin to CONSTANTINE: THE HELLBLAZER. While it is not quite the old school Vertigo title, it is also an evolution from the New 52 version, creating something almost entirely different and immediately arresting.

Constantine: The Hellblazer is a harder sell than most, because undoubtedly many fans of the classic Vertigo series will have been turned off by the lighter version that has been playing out over the last few years. This is a shame, because this current series comes close to that same darkness that inhabited earlier books, and while it may not capture the same magic of the original, it at least captures its spirit.

Convergence will take over the entire DCU for the next few months, and like previous events, its tie-ins will form the basis of all releases. However, unlikely the recent Forever Evil, where the core title remained strong even if the tie-ins were sometimes lackluster, Convergence is off to an inauspicious start. The cynical view has been that Convergence is merely a placeholder for editorial convenience, and this water-treading issue really does little to dissuade folks of that notion. Ultimately, Convergence is a concept that literally has infinite worlds of potential, and one hopes that they live up to the promise of the #0 in the coming months.

Happy endings are a rare thing in events, especially when the last book the bear the name "crisis" was about evil triumphing. For a universe-ripping series, it's also a delight that this comes to a positive conclusion, and doesn't lead us straight into another event. Convergence ultimately feels more like it is brushing aside some bad blood. With this issue, a four-year experiment of the New 52 also comes to an end, and something else emerges in its place: DC You. DC has almost cast itself as the misguided villain in this case, drawing parallels with the errors of Brainiac. "Maybe the end is what it takes," remarks Telos knowingly, "to see your mistakes." There are, of course, several plot threads left dangling, including the true name of Telos that become a very minor sub-plot in the back part of the series. This is a new era for DC, and while it may not be the sweeping change that devotees were hoping for, it is a step in the right direction.

Perhaps it's due to a familiarity with this era, butCONVERGENCE: GREEN ARROW #1captures the mid-1990s Green Arrow in a literal bubble. While it would have been interesting to pull in a different periodof the character's history, this largely overlooked era serves as a perfect point for a much angrier Ollie and a more nave Connor. If you've not looked ahead at next month's solicitations, the reveal of Ollie and Connor's sparring partners is an interesting one as well, bringing together two competing '90s realities in the same book. Perhaps when the dust settles, the version of Green Arrow that returns will be something a little closer to this one.

LIke many of the second issues in these Convergence runs, CONVERGENCE GREEN ARROW lacks any real sense of resolution. The father-son angst that was set up in the first issue never really pays off, nor is it given any more attention other than a throwaway line in the final panel. This is disappointing, as Marx's set-up really makes us want to spend a bit more time with this group of unlikely characters, or at the very least explore the "what if" relationship between Ollie and Connor. As we've already had a taste of the future of Green Arrow with the post-Convergence Green Arrow #41, this may still be the last time we see the bearded Ollie outside of the back-issues.

Anybody who missed the old Harley Quinn will love the final pages, and the promise of next month's "Rabbit Season", but this first issue struggles to maintain interest and incorporate Convergence into the plot as well.

In some ways, these mini-series are aiming for classicism, but falling short in execution that is hampered by the "rules" of the event. While the scope of Convergence: Speed Force is much bigger than some of its contemporaries, it is still difficult to get too invested in sets of characters that by necessity may be wiped out by the end of this run. However, what Beddard has achieved is balancing these small inevitable stories up against something much bigger than any individual character. It will remain to be seen whether this particular Flash will prove to be more significant in the wider Convergence, but if history is a guide, there will be at least one Flash disappearing in a Crisis.

While the story is still leading to a confrontation with the Atomic Knights of Durvale, themselves an alternative future of a post-apocalyptic Earth, it packs in more heart and insight into the characters of this era than many of its contemporaries have done to date. Convergence: Legion of Super-Heroes #1 may follow a similar structure to all of the other event titles in this series, in that it is ultimately leading up to a confrontation, but how many of those have knights in armor riding around on the backs of giant dalmatians?

While ultimately heading towards the same type of confrontation that every other book in this event is mirroring, Jurgens at least uses the opportunity to pay tribute to the mythos of DC's most iconic character. It's as much a celebration of Superman and his relationships as it is an event tie-in, and marks itself as one of the stand-out entries in the line-up. In this sense, Convergence: Superman succeeds where some of the other books in this line have failed.

Like the best of these Convergence books, Convergence: The Flash is a love-letter to the DC Universe and a nod to the important role that The Flash has played in almost every Crisis across the Multiverse. It's not over yet, and perhaps the current Scarlet Speedster has a critical role to play in this Convergence.

Cutter has all the potential of pulling a dramatic twist out of its tool shed, although by the end of the first issue the first big twist is something we've seen in a score of 1980s slasher flicks. Yet giving the book the benefit of the doubt and assuming it doesn't go down the obvious route of revenge horror, it might just be worth a second visit next month, even if it's just to conclusively see where it is going.

For existing fans, there might be a lot here to love, but as a debut and a potential jump-on point, it’s the kind of issue that would get weeded out during pilot season. There’s undoubtedly some interesting concepts here, some that might even pay out over the course of a full arc. Although as the second issue since “Rebirth" there simply isn’t anything comic book audiences haven’t seen before. Those with only a passing knowledge of Cyborg’s origin will get little more that that in this nominal debut, except for the promise of a big ol’ robot fight in the next issue.

A final page twist makes this something a little more interesting than the premise that led there, but unless DC have got something sneaky up their sleeves, all this can hope to do is cheapen the decade of stories that Morrison built to lead us here.

The biggest crime of Damsels is that is just fails to engage in this first issue. While the world is an intriguing one, setting up concepts of outlanders and several monarchies at play, the plotting is too scattered for the reader to latch onto any single element. It may have been enough to concentrate on the 'fleeing redhead' storyline, unveiling her story over time, yet we get a whole lot of information at once. The artwork is purely functional, neither wowing or disappointing, which is really as much as can be said for this first issue.

ou'll believe that J. Scott Campbell is actually doing the art on this one too, as Royle does a pretty good approximation of his style. Yet for the uninitiated, there will be a lot of head-scratching as people wandering in and out, Hartnell assuming that we will know what their significance is in the universe. For fans only.

The ongoing strength has been in Waid breaking down exactly what is intriguing about the character and playing to its strengths. Simple as that. This month, Waid ponders what would happen if all of that was taken away, and that which makes Matt Murdock special " that is, his radar sense " was suddenly taken away.

For over two years, Mark Waid's Daredevil has consistently been one of the best books on the market. High praise considering the fine examples of comic bookery we see every week, but since the "stealth reboot" of the series in the pre-Marvel NOW! years, Waid has been building up the character of Matt Murdoch and not just his horned alter ego. Indeed, some of the issues of this run should and will be spoken of in the same reverential tones as Frank Miller or Brian Michael Bendis's runs.

For over two years, Mark Waid's Daredevil has consistently been one of the best books on the market. High praise considering the fine examples of comic bookery we see every week, but since the "stealth reboot" of the series in the pre-Marvel NOW! years, Waid has been building up the character of Matt Murdoch and not just his horned alter ego. Indeed, some of the issues of this run should and will be spoken of in the same reverential tones as Frank Miller or Brian Michael Bendis's runs.

While there may be slight echoes of a certain "Court of Owls" story from the Distinguished Competition, the parallels between the two are only that they are the finest examples of mainstream superhero storytelling of this century. So far.

In the hands of anybody else, the sudden appearance of an alien and the Silver Surfer in the gritty world of Daredevil would be classic shark jumping. Yet we take the leap of faith due to Mark Waid's flawless track record, and it's to his credit that this still plays like a 70's cop show.

Special mention needs to be made of Javier Rodriguez's colouring, as it makes Davis's artwork pop all the more. Regular readers can rest assured that Mark Waid will be back on board for the exciting but far less upbeat story in the pages of the regular book.

Waid’s double-bluff in this issue gives resolution to the deceptive retcon of the previous issue, a trick he has pulled on more than one occasion in the past. Here it is even more effective, as Waid plays with our expectations to create something that adds something to the Daredevil canon, without sidelining the important message about postpartum depression. If it sometimes comes off as heavy-handed or wraps up to conveniently, it never feels like it diminishes the ultimate message of the arc. In the words of Matt Murdoch himself, “We should all fail so tragically.”

Yet it is the art team of Chris Samnee and colorist Matthew Wilson who are the standout heroes of the issue, transitioning seamlessly from the brighter opening (both tonally and graphically), to a mind-splitting 10-panel grid that shows each of the children testing the limits of Murdock's psyche. A magnificent piece of visual storytelling.

In this concluding chapter of the face-off with Purple Man and his Purple Children (with nary a Prince to be seen), "storytellers" Mark Waid and Chris Samnee bookend their tale with one of the most simple, effective and touching narratives on depression in recent comics.

The stylish finale is mostly an action climax, Samnee forever placing his stamp on the city of some of the most famous car chases with Daredevil actually behind the wheel. This alone should make it worth the price of admission, but it the double twist in the tale (the kind Waid excels at) that keeps this issue gripping until its heartwarming final panels.

Given that the current run of the ongoing Daredevil series has been consistently outstanding over the course of the last two years, it comes as a complete surprise as to how much this book was needed. It seems there is no such thing as too much Daredevil, especially when the quality is this high.

The beautiful 80-page volume is what comics were made for, exploring unseen worlds, introducing us to stories outside the mainstream and acting as a showcase for some of the best writers and artists in the business.

There's more chapters of "Trekker", "King's Road", "Bloodhound" and "Nexus", but there couldn't be a more perfect example of Dark Horse's ability to pick up future talent than the one-page story by 15-year-old Emma T. Capps. Simple and sketch comedy based in its approach, it still shows a sophisticated knowledge of structure and more importantly, a love of comics. It's great to see Dark Horse encouraging talent very early in a career. Who knows: one day Capps could be the next big thing, and this issue will be worth a fortune?

There's a continuation of Jane Espenson's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Love Vs. Life" story, tying directly into the Season 9 arc, more "Trekker" from Ron Randall and editor Mike Richardson's interesting adaptation of Andrew Vachss's "Underground". Yet the moment of zen brilliance is Patrick Alexander's "Steggy Wilmot and Spimps", a satirical bit of surrealism in which the idly rich Steggy is brought his morning pig by butler Spimps, creates a list of things he could buy (including Spimps' house and daughter) and is saddened when his Great Newspaper article about why pigs are sad fails to yield the fan-mail he desires. If that doesn't get you running out to buy this always terrific anthology, then nothing will.

Dark Knight III: The Master Race is so far exactly what one would expect from a book carrying this title, and perhaps that is what is holding it back from being great. It's a reminder of the greatest hits of Batman, a character that is necessarily defined by key moments in his existence. It sometimes seems that Batman has been mining the darker nights since the 1980s, although our era certainly lends itself to heroes that exhibit parallels the vigilantism of that earlier decade. It won't be until the subsequent chapters that we truly get to see if this is merely tipping a hat to a moment in time, or if it will break free and deliver a fresh and original playlist.

There's a scene in this issue where Carrie injects a large needle into Bruce's knee, and his mixture of pain and relief could almost capture the sentiments of the reader at this midway point in the series. Dark Knight III: The Master Race is not the messy rollercoaster that its predecessor was often seen as, but it isn't the groundbreaker this version of Batman once was either. At an elongated running time of eight issues, it also feels like a long walk-up to something wholly familiar as well, but with the surprises it has still managed to offer so far, it's hard to count the master out of the race just yet.

Several months and almost 20 issues into this event, Snyder has certainly kept the wheels of hopelessness spinning for what’s left of our heroes. As the second act of this potentially universe-changing saga comes to a close, there is a battle cry that heralds a sweeping finale. Yet having only moved inches since the end of the fourth issue, we’re left wondering how the light can possibly find its way back into the multiverse after all this darkness has permeated its shiniest of beacons.

In many ways, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is an extended scene that feels like it was excised for running time at the start of the film, but it does provide a richer level of detail about this emerging world. This works best as a companion piece to the films, as it was intended, and is most likely to work even better when it is collected as one piece at the end of the run.

While a mix like this is typically difficult to sustain, and some of the characters might seem like complete non sequiturs if you're not familiar with their ongoing series, the Christmas theme makes this an excellent collection overall. It's a whirlwind tour through the DC Universe that highlights the core strengths of these heroes, wrapped up in an accessible and entertaining package. Which is what DC should be doing more of, and its unquestionably one of the best stocking stuffers for any self-respecting comic book readers this Christmas.

What we have with Death of Hawkman is a mystery, but not the one that the title leads you to believe. To Andreyko’s credit, it’s an incredibly accessible book, with no prior knowledge really required for either the Hawkman or Adam Strange bits. Whether this results in the comic book death that makes the world stop and shrug in unison is yet to be seen, but it’s off to an interesting if not wholly arresting start.

From the majestic rolling hills of green, to the roasting rabbit on a spit (something Maya is unable to identify), we view the familiar through the eyes of someone who is effectively a newborn in a strange land. One of the most compelling new titles of 2012, we just don't want this one to end.

Taking the four issues together, Debris is still one of the strongest and most original mini-series we've seen in a while. What will be especially good will be the inevitable trade collection, where all of this saga can be read in its cinematic whole. The lack of a prolonged ending should be a minor quibble, and perhaps it is simply that we didn't want this series to end so soon.

The narrow list of suspects for this apparent murder makes the piece all the more fascinating, but not as tantalizing as the possibility that none of the people we've met so far is the killer. Dept. H follows all the hallmarks of a classic Agatha Christie-style whodunit, but nevertheless manages to be shockingly original in its executive, characterization and the precise beauty of its artistic presentation.

From the vantage point of the end of this first issue, we have every reason to be excited about the subsequent chapter in this series. That there's already a cinematic quality to this book is probably indicative of why it has been optioned for a film, but it well and truly stands on its own legs. Taking familiar elements from genre stories and beyond, the combination of Lemire's character-driven narrative and Nguyen's coolly optimistic art makes this something truly unique.

Yet with bonus pinup pages by various artists " including some especially gorgeous work by Alex Maleev, Francesco Francavilla and Batman Incorporated's Chris Burnham " this is a fitting celebration of Batman's 900 issues as the world's greatest detective.

This Detective Comics Annual tangentially references some of the events around the Batman universe at the moment, but is a mostly skippable event on the Bat-calendar. The character of Jane Doe is hinted at reappearing at a later date, and unless there is the off chance she becomes the next big villain for Batman, this is hardly a must-read.

A perfect jumping-on point for anybody not familiar with previous versions of Doctor Fate, or simply keen to find out what this cat in the golden helmet is on about. A storybook journey with some dark turns, it's mostly a lighthearted adventure from the days of matinee serials, and promises to be a ripping yarn.

There's a little bit of a swagger about this issue, self-assured that Stephen Strange is every bit the hero without his magic as he is with it. It's designed to make all of these characters as proudly epic as their spandex-clad Avengers friends. With a film due out in only a matter of months, Jason Aaron's take on Strange is becoming close to a definitive one, perfectly accessible to the layman while providing something new and exciting to reward those who have stuck with it.

If you don't feel like wandering outside of the main continuity of the ongoing series, it doesn't currently seem necessary to pick up a copy of Doctor Strange: The Last Days of Magic. Instead, it serves as an excellent introduction to the wider magical universe and some Marvel characters that may not be familiar to newer audiences. It also serves as further evidence that Aaron's skills as a writer don't simply lie in the ability to tell a good story, but rather in the ability to build a world around them.

Fans can miss Amy and Rory no more as this rollicking adventure kicks off in style. If you somehow miss out on picking this up, ensure you find a TARDIS to go back and order it in time. We're going forward to check out the next chapter!

Buckingham's art is gorgeous, and is almost photorealistic, completely capturing the likeness and essence of the three main characters. We look forward to seeing more of this series, although with Diggle off to more mainstream prospects in the near future (namely, the aforementioned Action Comics), we will see Witch Doctor's Brandon Seifert and Tank Girl's Philip Bond on the title next month. Geronimo!

As we face the prospect of a long 2016 without any regular new Doctor Who episodes until Christmas, Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor goes a long way towards helping us forget this fact. Indeed, it helps us forget the fact that we aren't in 1977, and Tom Baker isn't still tripping over his own scarf and lowering his baritone to curse the menace of the week. Like the best Baker episodes, it finds the right balance between Gothic horror and lighthearted adventure, and is the start of a promising set of new stories featuring characters as we remember them.

Fans of Doctor Who have put up with some less than spectacular adaptations over the years, but there is nothing in Titan’s first major Tenth Doctor release that is remotely cringeworthy. Fully embracing the spirit of the series, all Whovians will find themselves shouting “Allons-y!” in anticipation of the next installment.

The slower pace of the first issue gives way to a barrage of technobabble from the Time Lord, as he and his companion Gabby flee from fear monsters, as writer Nick Abadzis perfectly capturing actor David Tennant's way of delivering a wibbly wobbly line at rapid pace.

DOOMED gets off to a promising start, taking a familiar set-up and infusing it with enough humour and enthusiasm to give us good reason to care about this new character. It's an outright fun book, and like many of the other debuts out this week, is willing to do something new with an existing idea.

In many ways, this is Men in Black or R.I.P.D for the unconscious set, but is written far more in earnest than either of those comedies. Like Ten Grand, Straczynski has taken an existing genre and set it on the path that sets his brain alight. We can only imagine what his dreams look like.

Greg Smallwood marks his first major break with Dream Thief, but that belies a talent that comes to the page fully formed, complimenting Nitz with an almost noirish crime style that isn't a million miles away from the stuff Sean Phillips is putting out in Fatale or Criminal. His art is clean and bright, using shadow and minimalist colour for maximum effect. TheAboriginalmask that gives Lincoln his Sandman-like abilities is part Australian indigenous and part wrestling mask, and instantly iconic. Indeed, there isn't much here visually that Smallwood hasn't touched, with his fingerprints to be found right down to the lettering. It's a wonderful fusion of art and clever storytelling, and we can't wait to see how the rest of the five-issue series pans out.

One of the biggest drawbacks of this kind of adaptation is getting something that is already whole in piecemeal chunks, and it is easy to believe that this may have been better served as a singular graphic novel release. All the other elements are here though, with rich visuals, a compelling narrative, and a non-linear story to draw us in for the trip.

Riley Rossmo's gorgeous art sells the world, beginning with something that is almost Japanese influenced as the protagonist has a vision in a pond, before emerging out the other side of a Western by way of Paris, Texas. Coupled with Karl Fan's amazing colours, which make maximum use of Rossmo's minimal frame fillers, it's the hook that keeps readers visually engaged enough to want to know more about this puzzle.

Perhaps Drumhellar is not designed to be read in the same way as a traditional comic book, and is more akin to a visual puzzle than a straightforward detective yarn. It certainly makes no immediate claims on the latter, short of a having a ronin "Constantine" type at the helm. When it isn't deliberately obfuscating, there's plenty of levity to be had in the interaction between the main players too. In fact, to change a single frame of it would be to alter what makes Drumhellar a bit special in the first place, but at least then it might start to make a little more sense.

Earth 2 is a title that in many ways has sat on the fringes of the New 52, with its continuity barely touching any of the other stories. As this new creative team takes over, it has proven to be the title's greatest strength, opening up a world of possibilities for the ultimate DC sandbox. It's time to take second look at Earth 2.

Despite taking place on a parallel Earth, it remains an exemplar of how DC should be looking at their New 52 properties, stripping them down and rebuilding them from the ground up. The heroes may come out a little misshapen, and miss the odd part, but they are all the more intriguing for it.

With false starts to be found in all corners of the New 52, Earth 2 has become a terrific example of how these reboots should be done, by taking the barest of essentials from what has come before, emptying out the box and building it back up again from the pieces that survive the fall.

Earth 2 could quite easily be the most frustrating book in the entire New 52. In the previous issue, Hawkgirl acknowledged that they all felt like they were meant to be a team, but weren’t quite there yet. So while this edge-of-the-precipice teasing has kept readers guessing since the beginning, the notion that this is still all part of an alternative Earth’s “Year One” is a bold move. However, with the Kryptonians poised to clash next month, one gets the impression that Taylor is set to sweep the old cobwebs away so he has unfettered access to the sandbox that he is currently building, demolishing and re-imagining sandcastles in.

Just as James Robinson, Tom Taylor and Marguerite Bennett excited by crafting something distinctly new in the sandbox, so too does Daniel H. Wilson. Elevating the notion of legacy superheroes to a global scale, this feels like a wild west frontier where anything could happen " and just might.

For a book called Earth 2: World's End, it seems to be going to an awful lot of effort to be keeping a mediocre event alive long past the self-imposed expiry date. These final weeks will see the title limp along to its inevitable conclusion, where if prognostications of doom are right, then any progress that this series does make will be all for naught anyway.

Make no mistake: this is dark and bloody territory. Yet it is also a rewarding and compelling read. It seems there is another Image title that will make four weeks seem like an eternity at least 12 times a year. Judging from the hyperbole around the web, a cacophony of praise that we've just happily added to, this series has a strong foreseeable future.

It would be very easy to label East of West as a bit up and down, but like some of the best long-form stories of the last decade (Y: The Last Man, for example) patience is the most rewarding virtue of them all.

Richard Corben's art, which earned him a place in the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame last year, is masterful. He brings his Heavy Metal aesthetic, honed through years of Eerie and Creepy, and creates something that is both entirely Poe and unmistakably his own.

Corben wholly makes it his own world by the end of the piece, not only giving us a twist on one of Poe's most chilling ends ("darkness and decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all") but loudly winking (is that physically possible?) at the reader while doing it.

Many of shortcomings of Edge of the Venomverse #1 could be overlooked if there was a hook for what comes next. Unfortunately, while the final moments tease Laura's first steps in a larger collection of worlds, there's no real incentive or threat to keep us interested. Where Spider-Verse kicked off with Morlun declaring that all spiders will die, there is no equivalent menace to the Multiverse present here. If the next few issues are to be a random series of symbiote encounters so be it, but the core story that starts in September may be of more lasting interest.

EI8HT is a stunning and evocative new series from one of the best artists working in the business. The compelling premise takes familiar tropes and turns them on their head, asking readers to trust in it. Given the cliffhanger ending and plethora of questions left unanswered, we're in for the long haul. Highly recommended.

The cliffhanger to the issue is not dissimilar to a gimmick that was used at the start of this very issue, one that shows the limitations of their chosen form of transport. Yet it may also show the limits to the format of this book so far as well. While one of the strengths is definitely that it recognizes itself as a high-concept action piece, that dedication to a lack of exposition may ultimately hamper enjoyment down the line.

Russell has already given us two of the best reboots of the last few years with The Flintstones and the sorely underrated Prez, and now he can add a third instant classic to that list. More than just a series of catchphrases and in-jokes, Russell and the art team have taken an easily mockable character and turned out one of the more compelling dramas of recent memory. This might be the first must-read of 2018.

It might not be quite up to scratch with the main series that inspired it, but it is nevertheless a worthy companion to one of the most essential pieces of comic literature in the last few decades. Working primarily as an adaptation of the video game rather than being concerned with the expansion of the source material, this gives Fables: The Wolf Among Us scope to tell some good investigative stories within a world that was well defined by others. It gives us hope that there will be many more stories to tell by different voices within this world for years to come.

Sturges manages to hold true to both the wider Fables universe as well as giving this the feel of a genuine period noir film, from the dialogue to the gritty crime scenes. You'd expect a story like this to be in sepia/black and white, and it is. Yet so effective is McManus's artwork that we were not even conscious of this fact until the final pages switch back to a colourful modern-day.

There's a whole world here waiting to be explored, and this iceberg's tip certainly warrants some further exploration. So whether Farmhand is to your taste or not, it will be impossible to feel ambivalent towards it.

We are always several paces behind the main characters, which is an impressive feat given that Miles never quite feels as though he is sure what is going on. As Josephine promises to reveal more next issue, Fatale makes the month between issues an excruciating wait.

Hickman demonstrates that he already has a firm grasp on the cosmic, and these creepy opening pages really do give us the same tingle we felt all the way back in 2006 at the start of Annihilation. As the cover implies, we will probably see The Inhumans, the New Avengers, Dr Strange and a whole lot more before the saga is out. Cheung's art, accompanied by Mark Morales's inks, is nothing short of epic, from the dark landscapes of the intro to the promise of a galaxy spanning saga at the end of this 10-page teaser. After the very disappointing issues of Thanos Rising to date, this has finally got us excited about his reappearance in the Marvel cosmic universe

Fiction Squad is unmistakably fun, even if it is treading some more than familiar ground in the process. It's not a wholly original take on the genre, but given the nature of the material Jenkins is playing with, it doesn't have to be. Indeed, it flat out recognizes that all stories are borrowing elements from similar tales, so the comedy of recognition is something that it tries to work in its favor. It's the kind of concept that tends to work best in short bursts, and while this is solicited as a mini-series, it will be interesting to see if the narrative can sustain its core pun-damentals over the course of an entire series.

At a time when there is even more to be angry about in the world, from global politics to the division between rich and poor, Tyler Durden is needed more than ever. It is almost as if the character has been lurking deep within Palahniuk's unconscious mind for the last two decades, to return fully formed and ready to take over the world. A stunning major comics debut from the writer, and an amazing example of how comics can create an entirely new form of expression. Tyler Lives. Rize or Die.

Reading Palahniuk's Fight Club 2 in a serialized format is a curious approach, with those king hits of his that we've grown used to reeling from now given a comfortable distance from their consequences. While the temptation might be to trade wait and see how this all turns out in the end, the series provides a rare opportunity to see how Palahniuk's mind unpacks something as complex as the dual narratives running here.

Relying partly on your remembrance of the original work, as well as on the bits you only half-remember, it's entirely appropriate that the familiar face (or what's left of it) that turns up in this book is the very same one that Sebastian wanted to destroy because it was beautiful. Palahniuk might be talking directly to us with these final pages, indicating that if anybody is going to take the last few punches at the beauty that is Fight Club, it's going to be him.

The halfway point to Fight Club 2 highlights one of the concerns some have had with the story since the beginning, in that receiving the information piecemeal diminishes the overall impact of the story. To date, the method of delivery has delivered us a gripping series of reasons to believe that Palahniuk has been the master of his own creation's destiny, although this might be the first time that he shows some of the contempt he has for what that creation has become as well.

Like the best pulp adventures (although using 'pulp' here is really only to describe the inspiration), we simply accept that these mystical happenings are the norm in Fabian Gray's world. It's not done with irony like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen either, it simply delivers a rip-roaring adventure that gives us more questions about the nature of Gray's "tragic encounter" years ago. Equally dazzling is Chris Mooneyham's distinctive vintage style, that captures the spirit of the pulp adventures that inspire it, raising it to the epic proportions of Alan Moore's Tales of the Black Freighter.

While the entire saga will undoubtedly work wonders in a collected format, it is almost worth getting it every month simply for Chris Mooneyham's idiosyncratic artwork. Mooneyham's style conjures up visions of pulp book covers from the 1930s through 1950s, and maybe even takes the odd visual cue from Indiana Jones every now and then. Perhaps not a point to jump on at, but certainly one that will encourage you to go back and seek out the first two issues.

Our advice is to either go out right now and pick up all five issues if you haven't done so already or pick up the trade collection in September. Either way, you'll be wanting to get onboard for the ongoing series, as this could handily rival Fatale for Image's top book with a retro charm.

Had this issue dropped earlier in the series, eyelids would barely be batted at the fun breather it provides from the often elongated sagas of decompressed storytelling. Yet with a looming "crisis" hanging over the DCU, and months of hints that Wally West is set to take up his fated mantle, this feels too comparatively lightweight for a series that has been building for something for so long. With an issue to go before "Rebirth," there's still a chance to see some of that promise come to pass, particularly given the monumental turn by the end of the issue.

The Flash may not be the earth-shattering debut that the "Rebirth" kick-off had initiated, and while there are no big reveals in the first issue out of the gate, it's nevertheless a solid and reliable version of the Scarlet Speedster. The hints are all there for bigger things to come, including the cliffhanger ending, but the contrary to the title, it seems we may have to wait through a more measured pace before we get to them.

That final cliffhanger is potentially something that avid readers will have seen coming a mile of, but the beauty of Williamson’s world-building is that it still feels kind of exciting to get to this point anyway. Even if the story pieces seem somewhat familiar, they are being put together with panache, and after three-quarters of a century that’s an impressive enough feat for a character.

The Flash #20 is very much a fill-in issue in many respects, adhering to the formula of following a secondary character for ad adventure where all's well that (mostly) ends well. Yet with a reveal of new foe on the horizon, even if it disappointingly indicates another speedster villain, Williamson has put some new pieces on the board. However, it is all merely a chance to pause for breath before next issue's Batman tie-in and what is sure to be the most talked-about crossover of the year in "The Button."

The biggest problem with the issue is that the cliffhanger ending undoes some of the impact of the previous issue. On page and screen, there's been an overreliance on speedster villains for the last few years, and the spectacular end(s) to one of them in "The Button" gets seemingly reversed (get it?) in a single panel. It's why the Joker has recently been kept out of the comic books for a year or so at a time. Even so, this is a solid issue that hits the ground running and rarely lets up.

In all of his various forms, Barry Allen has a penchant for turning his feelings inward, so it's with some degree of cheer that Williamson manages to round out this particular tale on a note of hope. That's a pretty nice anniversary gift for the character and readers alike.

In some ways, this story is just a massive tease for Flash War event coming up in a few months time. Yet it's also a story that's been well over a year in the making, concentrating on the pre-Flashpoint Wally West and his return to the world.

It's this sense of despair that has us treading cautiously into this grim territory. Johns has given us the solid foundations of an epic event, just as he did with "Trinity War" before it. Yet this has a familiar feeling to it, and it's almost like starting over after coming so close to something that felt like a conclusion to two years worth of questions. With villain origin stories popping up all across the line, perhaps a New Dark 52 is on the horizon.

With about a dozen tie-ins or related issues to Forever Evil over the next month, the event occasionally feels that it is spread a little too thin. Staging an event with the complete absence of any major heroes is a risky move, but for the most part the characters present are compelling and likeable. As the threads slowly come together, we just hope this leads to a satisfying conclusion and not more questions.

Forever Evil has had to contend with the major problem of being a superhero book completely devoid of superheroes, and this issue shows what kind of energy returns to the series when one of those heroes returns. Indeed, even the return of a familiar villain (and sometimes hero in the form of Sinestro) provides more gravitas than a whole syndicate of criminals from another dimension. The saga is now headed in the right direction, so fingers crossed that it can maintain this momentum until the series concludes in a few months' time.

While this may have been better off as a Steve Trevor one-shot, with little evidence so far that there's enough material here to sustain an entire mini-series, it is one of the first main "Forever Evil" tie-ins to give some glimmer of hope that there's a plan to get out of this thing.

Following the story of a group of thieves who "never wanted to rule the world" has instantly become one of the most engaging aspects of the "Forever Evil" event, and DC would be wise to consider this team for their own standalone title outside of the confines of The Flash following this crossover. It has the potential to be as fun as Gail Simone's Secret Six and fill in a big gaping hole in the current publication line-up that we didn't know was empty until now.

While the rest of "Forever Evil" grapples with the bigger questions of the whereabouts of the Justice League, the moon being shifted out of its orbit and general villainy, Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion focuses on a compelling set of characters at the heart of the maelstrom, and is all the more rewarding for it.

It is far too early to see exactly how this is going to turn out, and the pieces don't all fit together quite yet. This is possibly a good thing, as there isn't a sense of inevitability just yet either. Brandon has undeniably built an intriguing world from each of the entries so far, and there are enough hooks to enable some further digging, even if none of them are particularly robust by themselves at the moment. Either way, Graham's big picture thinking is something that is refreshingly welcome, and a positive sign of things to come.

The six-issue mini-series has a lot of promise, and even though there is a familiar set of characters already at play, it's a slickly-told version. Frostbite doesn't so much demand your attention as casually invite you in to sit by the fire for a while and warm your weary eyes. As one of the characters in the book notes, an artificial warmth is only noticeable when you step away from it, and this pilot doesn't yet give us much of an indication of whether there is true warmth to be had from the series. We think we know enough of this narrative to say that, for now at least, ice will suffice.

The story is the kind of barrel-scraping monotony we came to expect from a simpler time, with Gambit being "bored" not really enough of a motivation to keep this book sustained over one issue, let alone a whole story arc. Mann's art is serviceable, and at times quite handsome, but he doesn't really have anything to work with in Asmus's underwhelming story.

In the back-matter to the book, Mackiewicz describes his book as an “attempt to process real world horror, centuries of it, magnify it through genre, and learn from it.” In this sense, we have something akin to Scalped but with a more genre-specific edge to it, one that is yet to reveal the full depth of its twists and turns. A terrific new debut that feels all at once highly topical and timeless.

At $7.99, there's a lot of value here for a 100 ad-free pages in a nice cover, but only if you don't have the first three issues. For newbies like us, we know who we're gonna call for future Ghostbusters issues.

The post-credits scene in Ghostbusters (2016) teased a connection between these universes, and while the book doesn't immediately deliver on this, Burnham brings us something that finds the ley-lines between the original films, his comic book universe and the 2016 movie. Indeed, it's the kind of crossover can only be achieved in this medium, with original cast members having left our mortal coil far too soon. This is a fun start to a promising series, and one that will be irresistible to fans.

Of course, Neil Gaiman's The Dead Boy Detectives star in a story by Toby Litt with layouts by Mark Buckingham (Fables), and the various styles from dark to cartoony make this one of the book's centrepieces. It will continue on in the next Vertigo anthology, whenever that may be. We just hope we don't have to wait another year!

It’s difficult to box Gideon Falls into a single genre at this early stage, but it begins with a frantic search and ends in blood. It’s a thriller, it’s horror, it’s literary, and it’s also something truly unique. With this new creator-owned series, we see two exemplary artists who share an unspoken symbiosis articulating that bond through sequential storytelling.

Perhaps the best way to describe the debut issue of Gotham Academy is that it's a pilot. It doesn't manage to avoid familiar tropes entirely, indeed it relies on them at times as a kind of cultural shorthand. Awkward cafeteria encounters, crazy old headmasters and even cameos from local famous billionaires all tick the right boxes, but it's hard not to get caught up in the sheer enthusiasm of the issue. Kudos where it's due should go to DC for trying to do something new with the Batman family of books, an impressive feat after 75 years and literally thousands of issues about Gotham City. If this is a mark of where the 'new' New 52 is going, then the Bat-Signal is shining a little brighter this week.

The artistic attempts to keep us on our toes is shared by the narrative, which almost feels as though it reaching a conclusion several times before catching us off-guard with an added twist. This has all the promise of a rich and layered series that invokes new levels of intrigue each month, so it will be interesting to see where this goes when it returns in the new year.

Grayson is a promising new direction for one of DC's oldest characters. It's the kind of changes that make their way organically into a long-running comic book, ones that can only happen once some history is behind them. It's a dichotomy that sits outside the New 52, but wholly encapsulates the best bits of it as well. Dick Grayson: Super Spy? It just might work.

Prior to Flashpoint, Green Arrow was one of the essential reads of the DCU, yet J.T. Krul's storytelling ability failed to translate into the new and younger vision of Oliver Queen. Nocenti's arrival barely helped matters, failing to recognise that going full throttle around the world is no substitute for character development, something Arrow's writers (especially Krul, Mike Grell and Judd Winick) had always been in tune with.

Tolibao is the fourth artist on the series in the last 12 months, which is perhaps another reason why this title can't find its way, and it simply doesn't suit the character. The final page promises an origin story next from Judd Winick, before the "Chinese adventure continues" in #13. We know which one we are looking forward to.

This is what should have been the reboot back in 2011, and is indicative of what the Newish 52 was capable of. It is a shame that readers may not have made it this far after several false starts. Let's hope DC have finally got their heads on straight as use this title as a template for the other flagging titles, rather than simply cancelling the same misfires over and over again. For now, enjoy a layered action/drama from the best in the business.

From a title than even the most devoted of Arrowites were struggling to stay loyal to, Lemire and Sorrentino have hit all the right targets to deliver a must-read book several months in a row now. We hope this partnership lasts for a long time to come.

Green Arrow #21 is an ending, but also an awakening to new beginnings. The partnership of Lemire and Sorrentino have spent these last five issues lining up their shot, and they've ultimately hit a bullseye. It's with great anticipation that we shall look forward to the next arc to see what they build on this solid foundation.

Lemire gives us a treasure trove of reasons to keep coming back to the book, not least of which is the twist ending, and has provided enough questions in this one issue to last us until the next DC reboot. If you'd given up on previous incarnations of this rebooted title, now is the time to jump back aboard.

The beauty of this issue is that it gives us a different perspective, a human one, on the Count, but this in no way diminishes his power. Indeed, Lemire's version is far more formidable than the often cartoonish pre-Crisis version ever was. One of the first recommendations of the month.

This issue of Green Arrow demonstrates the dangers of trying to link stories with arcs beginning in other books, and how corporate synergy has a role to play in mainstream comics. To the credit of Lemire, he mostly overcomes this in a straightforward issue, promising a much bigger story to emerge from "The Outsiders War."

Sorrentino excels in the lush playground of the island's jungle, but gives us some rare light-hearted art in the lead-up as well. The gentle back-and-forth between Ollie's crew (over pizza and beverages, no less!) showcases a brighter side for a comic that has gone to some dark places in recent months, and gives us a nice segue into an origin-defining arc for the increasingly high profile character.

Lemire has all the elements of a sharply original Green Arrow story working here, and it is entirely possible that they will wrap up in a future issue. For now, there are far too many moving parts for this to be enjoyable, detracting from the core of the character and altering the essence of a hero that has always been defined by his ability to make (and break) his own destiny.

The final pages are not so much conclusive as a massive tease for the next arc, including another bit of wordplay on a famous Grell title. Yet it manages to feel organic, a mixture of old and new that doesn’t smack of being forced in sideways as an Easter egg for pre-Flashpoint fans desperate for some sign that ‘our‘ Ollie will return. With two arcs now under his belt, Lemire has shown the potential for a Green Arrow book under the New 52 banner. If it can shake the tenuous links it strives to maintain between the comic book and TV worlds, the Emerald Archer might just be one of DC’s preeminent books again.

Perhaps for the first time since the reboot, and to a lesser extent since Lemire soft-reboot in the middle of that, Green Arrow is really starting to feel like a book that has a big story to tell. Having firmly established an identity for the New 52 version of Green Arrow, Lemire is determined to never let him rest for a moment, and this makes for fascinating reading.

The union of various elements of Arrow and Green Arrow was inevitable, and by the end of this issue it is clear that the line between the two is increasingly becoming blurred. Yet this can only be a good thing in the long-term. Comics are just as much a product of outside influences as they are inspirations for film and television, and two successful television writers are primed to bring some of that style to the funny books.

Kreisberg and Sokolowski's run has to date felt like the TV show they would have written if they had access to all of the characters in the DC universe. With next month's Convergence event set to change the status quo, this issue of Green Arrow brings about its own kind of "convergence", updating the comic to a point where it could comfortably run concurrently with the TV series, complete with its own versions of Felicity, Diggle and a surrogate Thea. As such, if this does end the New 52 version as we know it, it's a logical conclusion, albeit one that treads familiar ground.

Percy's GREEN ARROW appears to be a slow burn, and we get the sense that not all of the pieces are in place just yet. For now, it's difficult to be anything more than cautiously optimistic about this new beginning, with only a handful of hints as to where the comic is headed. What we need now is some status quo, rather than a new direction every few months. The character of Green Arrow has always been in constant flux, as well he should be, but the post-Convergence DCU provides the perfect opportunity to take some time to rebuild this character from the ground up.

Percy is still (re)building the elements, and not all of them gel together seamlessly. On the one hand, bringing Jeff Lemire's Emiko back to being a core member and conscience of Team Arrow (after the interim writers Andrew Kreisberg and Ben Sokolowski pretended she didn't exist) gives the book a whole new tone, one we haven't seen since the relationship between Mia Dearden and Ollie in Judd Winick's pre-Flashpoint run. We've even got a dog on that team ow too. Setting up a dichotomy between Ollie's brand of street justice and the less judiciously applied automated kind, Oliver Queen fighting giant robots doesn't seem like a natural fit. Yet GREEN ARROW has constantly adapted to what was required of it, and time will tell if this new direction is one where all those pieces come together.

Despite some minor misgivings, GREEN ARROW is heading in the right direction under Percy. Free from the burden of another globe-trotting adventure, and delightfully free of blonde triplets, this grounded approach is where Ollie should be, and here's hoping Percy stays on this course long enough to give us some status quo. References to the Tacoma light rail and killer whales are no more on the nose than Grell's lingering shots of the Pike Markets, and it is to Grell that Percy appears to look when he approaches this character. This can only be a good thing, and we can't wait to see what he has in store for the next arc.

GREEN ARROW #44 is mostly a prelude issue, albeit one that delivers some powerful scenes in the anticipation of the story to come. The addition of an unexpected ally in the final pages comes as a pleasing twist, and the addition of this character may raise some eyebrows who still haven't quite come to terms with her actions with another hero a decade ago. Once again, Percy leaves us pointed in the right direction, and now we patiently wait a month to see if his aim is true.

From his earliest days in the pages of More Fun Comics, World's Finest and Adventure Comics, Green Arrow has always been something of a pastiche: part Batman, partly Robin Hood, and partly inspired by the Western mythos. So it's interesting to see the Green Arrow of the 21st century still struggling with this identity crisis. Percy has some interesting ideas, and the notion of Green Arrow as a horror title is an intriguing one. Yet the problem lies ultimately in the execution, one where multitude of ideas could benefit from being pared back into a singular focus.

Green Arrow has been regularly frustrating since its reimagining in 2011, and so far Percy's tenure has only brushed the reader up against the greatness that this character always has the potential of displaying. The future doesn't seem quite as bright as it did at the end of the first arc, with the third arc hinting at a wolfy awakening for Ollie. This is definitely not the facial hair that fans are hoping to see. Where the character, and indeed Percy, work best is when they stick to the core values of the man behind the mask, but at this point is seems the shaft has strayed far from the center of the target.

As an anniversary issue marking 50 issues since the dawn of the "New 52," Green Arrow shows no signs of shaking the narrative confusion that plagued it in the initial issues. Still searching for a sense of identity, the addition of the horror genre and a half-hearted attempt at relevancy barely captures the spirit of modern politics, let alone the long history of political discourse that has been a part of Oliver Queen's adventures over the last three-quarters of a century. At this stage, we can only hope that DC's much-hyped "Rebirth" event manages to find the center of the target again.

Nevertheless, this penultimate issue of the "New 52" Green Arrow is frustrated by some rushed pacing, now trying to reconcile several of those aforementioned narratives to bring this chapter of Oliver Queen's life to a conclusion, or at least a new beginning. The drama of the cliffhanger is undercut by the fact that there is a man standing in the room that can bring people back from near-death, coupled with a preview title that is virtually telling us how this is going to unfold. Even if it doesn't go that way, and Percy surprises us with the final curtain, it's a case of too little too late in this otherwise solid action issue.

There is a glimmer of optimism that edges into this bookend chapter. After all, the issue begins with a literal rebirth, and mostly concerns Ollie's hope that the world can benefit from Doctor Miracle's cure. It's not the first time in the last five years that we've been led to believe the title can change for the better, but even in this super compressed format, it is one of the most hopeful arguments to date. Percy is the solicited writer for the post-Rebirth issues of Green Arrow, so maybe he has simply pushed Oliver Queen into the direction that he would like to see him take in the next part of his story. For now, the New 52 version of Green Arrow ends with some of the same uncertainties that it began with, but for the first time in half a decade, it does so with a target placed firmly in front of it, a less scattered sense of character, and more importantly, a beard on its face.

When Percy first took over the New 52 version of Green Arrow, he had an equally strong start, but eventually got lost in an odd tension between horror and his clear love of Green Arrow's background. Here we see something completely different, a flat out classic depiction of a character that owes just as much to his current history as it does to its long legacy, never compromising either.

Now that he has settled in this revived version of Oliver Queen, Percy is beginning to lean on his wider influence once again. While the main source of antagonism is another shadow group, the not-too-subtle references to Dante Alighieri's Inferno make for some interesting illusions to Ollie's current downward spiral. More encouraging is that this time around, Percy has balanced the difficult task of putting an existing character into a new environment, but managing to balance the tensions between the old and new.

Percy's Green Arrow works best when it balances a self-awareness of the character's rich history wth wholesale tributes to the past, but within a contemporary framework of course. Yet this third chapter not only departs tonally from the two issues that preceded it, but it threatens to revisit ground that was covered as recently as Jeff Lemire's 2013 outing with the character. This current issue doesn't push far enough into new territory or uncover new aspects of the old, resulting in a solid but heavily familiar tale.

While the titular Green Arrow takes a back seat this issue, it also means that Emiko finally gets to step up into the limelight and be something more than just a plot device or sidekick. Indeed, Percy and Byrne make an incredible case for her as a solo character, or at least being part of a thematic crossover with the aforementioned Gotham Academy or Batgirl. More to the point, it underlines the wider push of Percy’s run: bringing in Black Canary and other characters to craft something closer to the Team Arrow we once knew, but leaving his own distinctive mark on the title in the process.

This conclusion to the brief interlude following the restoration of Oliver Queen to “life” is a terrific character-based entry that really gives us a flavor of what Percy has in mind for the Green Arrow “universe” as a whole. More than that, by the end of this issue, we can see how a few extra characters from bygone eras of Arrow can be dragged back into the world, and that is incredibly exciting.

There's the odd bit of cheese in this issue, from the undercover Dinah calling herself "Officer Kiniry" to a group of football players declaring "This here's the gladiator ring. We hurt for a living." These are hiccups that might take you out of the moment temporarily, but Percy restrains himself to keep this runaway train moving constantly. As this wraps up the current arc, it also leave plenty of room to move forward, showing that these last few arcs are exactly what the Emerald Archer needed to get back on target.

Much of the issues appears to be a long setup for the return of a familiar character on the final page. It’s heralded by a full-page glory shot of the character spouting their new codename, a wonderfully impactful moment that would have even more power if Percy hadn’t used the exact motif to announce the arrival of the "new" Merlyn last issue. Even so, Percy and his rotating art teams continue to provide a classic version of Green Arrow, even if it’s a little too "greatest hits" at times.

The title of this arc, "The Rise of Star City," is of course a reference to the traditional home of the Battling Bowman. Like Grell's run, Seattle has served as the home for the "New 52" Green Arrow for much of his run. Yet Percy is playing to his own strengths, incorporating some of his horror/occult leanings into a bigger story that looks like it will change the nature of Ollie's relationship to his city in much the same way that Court of Owls changed Gotham for Batman.

Ollie's trial for murder still hanging around in the background, and with a killer of a cliffhanger, this certainly isn't the end to this narrative, but Percy appears to be having the time of his life getting us there. We are too.

Highly publicised by the mainstream media, DC's first major Arab-American superhero makes his debut in the form of Simon Baz, who is introduced as being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Touching on the prejudice against Muslims in America since 9/11, the book carefully establishes Baz as his own man, and someone who will bring a distinctive spin to the Green Lantern history.

It's a mixture of excitement and sadness that fills the final pages of this issue. Robert Venditti will take over the book soon enough, and has some pretty big shoes when he takes over not only this title, but Green Lantern Corps as well. Yet Johns can't help but indulge himself just a little, flashing forward to the "bookends of Rebirth" and giving an epilogue for each of the main players. It's the job of other writers to carry the green torch now, but perhaps Johns has just ensured that his influence will be felt for many decades to come. A perfect way to end a spectacular run.

Venditti is thrown in at the deep end with not just Green Lantern, but also by taking on responsibilities for Green Lantern Corps as well. In the final pages of this issue, we are given a whiff of what Venditti has in store for us in the coming issues, including the introduction of a new villain for the Forever Evil event in September. It is far too early to tell if the series is in safe post-Johns hands just yet, but it is undoubtedly pointed in the right direction.

The Green Lantern legacy was strong enough to survive the editorial changes resulting in the New 52 without missing a beat, and this issue suggests that it will continue to do so for some time to come. Venditti finds the right balance between Jordan as a man and a space cowboy, and this is just where we want to be as we head into the "Lights Out" crossover event this year.

Rags Morales gives series artist Billy Tan a break this month, and there certainly isn't the same sense of scale. However, combined with Andrew Dahlhouse's wonderful work with colours, he provides something that sits outside of Tan's universe, but is easy to draw parallels between them. Relic is crafted as a worthy opponent for the Lantern Corp, and promises a big crossover event in the coming months.

Kindt leaves us with little doubt that Sinestro's story is far from over, and while this issue adds little in the way of new perspective on the character, it does provide a handy overview for one of the most essential villains in the DCU. If anything, there's just as much scope for exploring the fate of Lyssa Drak in future issues as there is Sinestro, but the fate of the two now seems to be inexplicably tied. However, as much as these issues have worked as a curiosity, it will be far more rewarding to return to the main narrative next month to see how the events of "Lights Out" relate to larger issues in the DCU.

It's an inauspicious start to the second chapter of Venditti's Lantern tales, neither bringing the same impact or promise of a major shift ahead of it. Instead, it feels very much like an epilogue that didn't fit into a single issue.

Robert Venditti's post-Geoff Johns run has been a worthy successor to the decade-long epic, and "Lights Out" was one of the highlights of the comic book event calendar. However, this fallout issue doesn't quite have the same impact of its immediate predecessor, although the rift it sets up is one that promises to pay off down the track.

It's the "Rise of the Third Army" this month as Geoff Johns continues to demonstrate how to do an event within the DCU, New 52 or any other U for that matter. Essential reading for readers of any Lantern book, this issue will have ramifications across the entire Lantern line, and perhaps even the second year of the Newish 52.

"Lights Out" is a textbook example of what an event should be: a mostly self-contained quest that not only ends on its own terms, but hints at the future. When Johns left the title, he laid out a road map for the ultimate fate of the characters he had crafted over the course of a decade. With "Lights Out," Venditti has ensured that his own name will become an important part of that history, indicating some major changes on the horizon for all the main players.

A promising new direction for Green Lantern. For a primary series that often gets caught up in the epic grandness of longer story arcs, it's nice to have a discreet Lantern-based story that doesn't require a tome of set-up to slip into.

The pinup cover is the comic book equivalent of Alice's "Eat me" signs, and we all know how that ended up. This prequel is something of a double-edged sword, not offering anything entirely new, but perhaps providing some back-story for existing readers. It's not exactly an easy introduction to new readers either, although it certainly seems to be inviting them in with this origin tale. How far down the rabbit hole you want to go is entirely up to you.

Yet through all the non sequiturs and madness, there is still a core story that drives the historic meeting of Groo and Conan onwards. With the issue ending on a cliffhanger of proportions most dire, readers are left with a legitimate desire for more, a rare feat for books that tend towards the self-referential gags. What could have easily been a one-shot has maintained its humour and pace throughout, and is heading in the right direction to be a memorable series overall.

What a difference a year or two makes, with the Guardians now leading lights after sitting in limbo for several years, now starring in multiple titles instead of just the one. There's a distinct possibility of the Guardians over-saturating the Marvel market, with at least half a dozen titles exploring these characters in their collective or solo outings. The multiple stories in this first issue do exhibit a bit of brand confusion, but the main story returns at least some of the Guardians to position of protecting the galaxy from curious time anomalies, rounding this out to be a fun and familiar tale that will be appreciated by new and existing fans of the team.

At times it comes close to the spirit Jim Starlin or DnA's great runs, evoking some of the cosmic mysticism they both so frequently played with. Yet Guardians of Knowhere #1 this still feels like an imitation caught between two great depictions of these characters in other cosmic Marvel titles.

The collaboration between Bendis and McNiven is a strong one, and something that we hope will last for a while on this title. This is still the Bendis we've come to enjoy from Alias to Age of Ultron. While the book doesn't have the immediate youthful fun factor of stablemate Nova, or the previous Guardians of the Galaxy run for that matter, this takes the hard sci-fi of the previous incarnation and filters it through a mixture of Star Trek hanging out at the Star Wars cantina, ready to tell us a few stories over a glass or four. It's a big galaxy out there, and we can't wait to see what is on the other side.

Steve McNiven and Sara Pichelli's art is incredibly striking though, particularly shining on the sleek designs of the Guardians' ships and suits. There's also a double-page spread filled with a holographic image that is a showstopper, but perhaps that is because it is also filled with almost 20 of Bendis's word balloons. This might be a changed group, but let's hope that nobody is forgetting the fun and irreverence that made the last series so critically successful.

For a series that has struggled to find its own identity in this first story arc, with Brian Michael Bendis once again choosing to abandon the groundwork laid by the all-too-short previous series, the addition of a character from another publisher is just odd. However, this issue does manage to find its feet a little more, bringing back some much needed humour in a sparkling two-hander that sees Tony Stark taken down a peg or two by Rocket Raccoon.

Valerio Schiti's art convincingly conveys the outlandishness of this space saga, although his cartoony choices for Rocket and Groot in particular make them feel as though they've stepped in from another book entirely, and partially undermine the drama of one of the best cliffhanger endings of the series to date.

It's hard to tell at this early stage if the familiar set-up, with two factions splitting off over the potential use/misuse of the powerful Black Vortex artifact, is a retread of similar Avengers/Guardians/X-Men encounters over the last few years. Yet the book hits the ground running with some gorgeous art by Valerio Schiti, especially during the sequences in which a character is "touched" by the power, and some lovely moments between Kitty and Peter Quill.

Kitty Pride is a wonderful new and dynamic Star-Lord, but with the immediate reintroduction of Peter Quill as the bored Spartax ruler, it seems like it is only a matter of time before those superficial changes fall back in line with a more familiar Guardians lineup.

If this is indicative of the character-based approach that Bendis's Guardians of the Galaxy series will take, then sign us up immediately. Oeming's art is complimentary, the kind of style that perfectly suits the eccentricities of Marvel's Cosmic.

Hadrian's Wall is an arresting new series from an established team, one that should hook in readers conclusive from the first panel. While much of the basic narrative structure and style are borrowed from a clear set of influences, they come together in such a meticulously crafted way as to form something new and exciting. This is one book that demands an immediate follow up, and if this first issue is any indication, the month-long wait between issues is going to be a difficult.

Just as Harvest did a great job of building a tangibly sticky world before pulling the rug out from under us, so too does Morrison in this fully realised creation that is sure to keep us on our toes in the coming months. We really have no choice but to listen to the horse.

With Grant Morrison slowly pulling out of the capes business, Happy has been one of the best examples of where his current strengths lie. Never over-staying its welcome at a mere four issues, this Christmas cracker (sort of) has kept us off-balance for much of this singular story about a washed-up detective pursuing a kiddie killer with the help of a small blue winged horse called Happy.

The best Archie crossovers have tended to be one-shots or incredibly limited series. Harley & Ivy Meet Betty and Veronica is evidence towards the idea that Riverdale visits work best in that format. It's difficult to see how this will stretch out for another two issues, but it's all in good fun after all. It might just be the antidote needed to the doom and gloom of the event crossover season that's right around the corner.

Harley Quinn #14 is a perfect jumping-on point for anyone curious to see what all the fuss about this title is. It perfectly encapsulates why the character has taken on such a massive fan base, and showcases all the major tenants that this series is built around. For ongoing readers, who knows that this book works best as a series of loosely connected one-shots, it was a nice break from the longer story arcs before she embarks on a quest to "harmonificate" her life.

Far from being a cheap and quirky cash-in, Harley Quinn Annual #1 embodies everything that is still fun in comic books. A collision of surrealist storytelling and exemplars of some of the more interesting artists working in the field, this has more than a whiff of joyousness about it.

For every reader expecting the Futures End continuity to get wiped away with a quirky twist of fate (or time travel, as is fashionable these days), Harley Quinn: Futures End treats canon with about as much reverence as it deserves. Where else are you going to find a talking dead beaver speaking to the hero from inside the stomach of a crocodile? Equal parts bloody and bloody funny, it's the antidote to event fatigue.

Harley Quinn: Be Careful What You Wish For will test the Harley tolerance of all but the most dedicate fanbase. More than this, specials like this make us ponder who this character even is. Harley could quite happily be the fourth-wall breaking equivalent of Marvel's Deadpool, but in attempting to grab onto the all the audiences for the character from her 25-year history it ultimate ends up appealing to very few.

It's Power Girl and Harley Quinn running around the cosmos getting into fights and adventures. This really is a no-brainer: if you like either character (or better yet, both!), there will be very few reasons to turn away from this mini-series. Even if it doesn't have a scratch-'n'-sniff element to it.

There is nothing about this book that couldn't have been told in the pages of the regular monthly title, and while fans will undoubtedly love the extra issues each year, it would have been much more pleasing to see a different creative team tackle their version of the character. At the bloated length of almost forty story pages, it is also difficult to justify the slightly higher price point for the sake of an extended version of the same creative team's stories. Yet with Suicide Squad due out in cinemas next year, the cult of Harley Quinn is only going to get stronger.

Yet Lorimer's art is the star here. Noir in its style and muted colours, he simply has a different way of looking at a scene to most artists, unafraid to take his "camera" to vantage points we don't normally view in sequential art and tripping us out completely on whatever Dane is taking. The only disappointment is that there are only four more of these left in the coming months.

Just as Mark Waid crafted a version of Daredevil that is wholly familiar yet completely new and fresh, so too has Matt Fraction with the underused Hawkeye. Yet the strength here is that Fraction doesn't concentrate on the Avenger but the man who has come up from the streets and has to work every day at being good.

The issue could work as a strong standalone, but hints at a bigger story, indicating that the off ill-treated character is in safe hands for now. Aja and Hollingsworth's artwork is once again phenomenal, bringing a gritty realism to this world of costumed heroes. It will be interesting to see what they do when Hawkeye suits up on a more regular basis. A must read.

David Aja's artwork is again the real costumed hero of the day, and coupled with Matt Hollingsworth's understated colours, conjures up a New York of the late 1960s or early 1970s. As if Martin Scorsese had climbed inside the panels and begun filming a documentary about the saddest superhero in New York. Indeed, even the women are all accordingly dressed in retro attire.

If this was a standalone issue, it would be a near-perfect piece of sequential art and plotting. The fact that it seems to be the beginning of a downward spiral for Clint Barton makes it all the richer. This is essential reading.

"If you just give me one shot to show you how good I can be," declares Kate in two separate instances in the issue, "how hard I work, how much I believe in doing the right thing " I won't let you down. I promise". The repeated mantra could have almost been Fraction's pitch to Marvel, who deserve a tip of the hat for giving one of their cinematic Avengers a chance to let it all hang out in a prominent comic. Hawkeye Annual #1 does exactly what this kind of special should, supporting the main arc while giving an important character time to grow . We just hope it isn't too long before we see Kate and Clint back in each other's lives.

Following on from Hawkeye & Deadpool #0, this second issue (numbering notwithstanding) from writer Gerry Duggan doesn't quite have the same meta-awareness of art-driven storytelling as the first issue, but it's a whole lot of fun.

Just as as he did with the magnificent The Many Harold Holts of Space & Time (for the Home Brew Vampire Bullets anthology), Lindsay plunges face-first into the surreal and brings us something fresh and engaging. Offering just enough to hook new readers, Lindsay and the art team lay out an intriguing world that may have a familiar scent, but offers a vibe that is entirely its own.

If the "Rebirth"-ed run of The Hellblazer had to be summed up in just a handful of words, it would be a "pervading sense of threat." Oliver is still playing his cards fairly close to the chest on this one, hinting with quoted passages from William Blake that there is some great calamity to come to knock the cocksure magician off his perch. There's also continual indications that the darker members of the DC Universe are being drawn back together, and it will be great to see this happening within the reframed context of "Rebirth." Yet it's still early days, and Oliver and his art team are off to a cracking start.

By the penultimate chapter of Hit-Girl, Millar has once again begun to run into the same problems he had with Kick-Ass 2: the inability to sustain momentum over the course of a fairly straightforward tale. With Hit-Girl, the problems are compounded by knowing how this chapter of Mindy's life is going to turn out, giving this issue in particular a sense of inevitability.

In D4ve, the narrative told us that the weird thing about robots was that they ultimately adopted the nuances of their human creators. If we follow that line of thinking, then Hot Damn is the thematic sibling to the creative team's previous outing, and we have only just scraped the surface of what it has to offer. Whether this is a redemption story of a bit of fantasy tourism is yet to be seen, but the final hook of this debut has damned us to return for another look when the sophomore issue hits.

Howard the Duck has undergone many changes over the last few decades, from failed movie star, to a mature readers line and a recent cinematic cameo. This issue hits the stride of the best aspects of all of those incarnations, proving that any character - regardless of how "fowl" they might be - has an amazing comic book inside of them.

A comical take on a Raymond Chandler-esque plot - where Toomes is a literal vulture, the feline femme fatale is Black Cat, and Kingpin is a gorilla - it's a bit like reading Blacksad under the influence of heavy hallucinogens.

If Huck was simply the story of a warm-hearted hero with superpowers in a small town, it would already stand as one of the more original creations of the year. Yet Millar also gives us something of a mystery in the identity of Huck, telling us only that he was abandoned as a baby and pinned with the note "Please love him." It's been a crazy and devastating week around the world, as violent acts showcase the hatred and fear of a small number of people. If Huck's message is that unconditionally passing on love and being kind to one another creates heroes from the most unlikely of places, then he might also be the most necessary hero of the year as well.

We get a strong feeling that by the time this and Infinityis through, the world devourers at Marvel editorial will have brought the Ultimate Universe to a close. From a marketing standpoint alone, the line has served its purpose, with the Marvel NOW! event and the films finally serving as the mass-market jumping-on points that the rich history of the Ultimate Universe no longer does. For now, the first chapter of Hunger gives us a reason to look forward to the rest of the series, especially as we know it is leading into Infinity and the reintroduction of Thanos.

The arrival of Galactus in the Ultimate Marvel Universe would be where most event series end, and that this one has begun that way is one of the many reasons that this mini-series is worth more than a cursory glance

The unlikely combination of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain and novelist Joel Rose brought us Get Jiro a few years back. Their latest collaboration is just as esoteric, and once against draws upon a Japanese tradition of storytelling. The start of an anthology series based around a series of kitchen nightmares, the creators eyes may have been bigger than their stomachs in this less-than-satisfying degustation of tales.

There's almost too much of a good thing in this first outing, with Gertrude's post-mushroom "puking rally" potentially where readers will be at by the time they hit the last few pages of this debut. Being this unrestrained is a double-edged sword: on the one hand there's never any sense that Young has compromised his vision, but we do get a lot of that vision all at once. Nevertheless, there's a lot to love in I Hate Fairyland, and with the world now set up with a healthy sense of "anything goes," Young has the makings of a cult favourite on his hands.

It's difficult to tell from this opening issue, but the titular Ice Cream Man would appear to function as a kind of Crypt Keeper for the series. In this vein, it seems that his van will travel from place to place, intersecting with the lives of fateful human, and creating minor winking breaches in the fourth wall. It's a promising start, filled with at least 31 flavors of possibility.

"It's possible that we solicited a six-issue miniseries and are shipping a sixteen-issue series," Hickman recently told Comic Shop News. The fear, of course, is that he's dead on the money, but just in a way he didn't intend. As it has already been revealed that this series will"jumpstart a long-dormant genetic inhuman strain"with Matt Fraction andJoe Madureira's Inhuman later this year. Despite this, it's a cautious thumbs up for this first issue, pointing the Marvel Cosmic Universe in the right direction for a major clash, but still needing to show us the ability to pull it all together.

It may have taken us dozens of Avengers and New Avengers issues and countless chapter headings to get here, but Hickman's vision is now fully formed, birthing an epic space opera every bit the equal of Annihilation or War of Kings.

Ultimately, it's a fable about disillusionment, about seeing that the emperor has no clothes and being unable to view it any other way once glimpsed. It's a promising start for an arc that is yet to define its main point of drama, and for now this serves as a teaser for future issues.

Despite these narrative misgivings, there is certainly enough in this first issue of Intersect to warrant a second foray into Fawkes' world. While the fragments presented here are not enough to gain a complete impression, they certainly tease enough to want to see more pieces and perhaps even participate in assembling the full portrait.

Ironheart is off to a solid start with a new series that continues to mark Marvel’s commitment to expanding the diverse hero gallery they’ve put together over the last few years. If anything, it would have been good to see Ewing go deeper some of the social issues she only hints at throughout this book. Of course, as this is the first issue in an ongoing series, there is plenty of time to explore the many plot and character threads that Ewing sets up here. “Ironheart is an engineer who uses many tools,” we are told in one of the most perfect lines in the book. Here’s hoping we get to see Ewing and the art team take a few more of them out of the box in the coming months.

It's just a shame that this first issue is so dialogue-heavy that is obscures the lovingly rendered art at times. There's some great one-liners though, and while the first issue may read like a wet-dream, there is the promise of comedic situations to come in future issues

John Flood is undoubtedly an intriguing pilot, with loads of potential, and there is definitely a sense of the familiar in the loose framework. Yet we also conclude the issue with far more questions than answers, having been sucked into the premise wholeheartedly. Not all of the elements presented here pay off immediately, including Flood's own high-concept eccentricity, but they all have the promise of leading somewhere, and you really can't ask more of a first issue than that.

What this rebooted Judge Dredd represents is a mystery, albeit one not everyone is going to want to solve. Dredd as a fish-out-of-water is always an interesting concept, and there is plenty here to pick apart going forward. Yet those in the market for a more traditional Dredd story may do well looking elsewhere, as this is less about enforcement and more about exploration.

While not a jaw-droppingly amazing issue, it does encourage readers to sink into the world a little deeper. Fans might not find anything of particular consequence here, but if the aim was to slowly hook in new readers to this classic character, then Matt Smith definitely has us firmly in his sights.

With Jughead, the new creative team have taken the one thing we probably all know about the character (that he is food's biggest fan) and made that an engaging plot point. Archie can have its love triangle between its title character and the two women who want him, but Jughead burns bright with perhaps an even more mesmerizing triptych: Jughead Jones, his food, and the forces that would keep him from it.

MIllar's short runs have always been his strength, and it will be interesting to see him once again work on an ongoing book. Jupiter's Legacy is a strong opening to what has the potential to be a terrific dissection of comics in the 21st century, a topic that Millar is well and truly familiar with at this stage in his career. A roster of compelling characters, lovingly illustrated by Quitely, certainly put this on a must-read pile for next month and the foreseeable future.

The tent-pole of the DCU has always been one to keep going back to, simply because it is the book that has helped us better understand the world of the New 52. Now that we are well into this new arc, Johns has fallen back on the familiar, rediscovering the problem of putting all of the world's major heroes in a single book.

Coupled with some inconsistent art from a whole team of pencillers, it's a slow month for the Justice League. Fortunately, back-up story Shazam! Chapter 12 continues to be one of the best titles in the DC lineup.

Justice League #22 comes at a time when DC needs to win back fans, jaded after two years of reboots and gimmicks. With an issue packed with portents, action, and a couple of major deaths, The Trinity War shows the promise that the New 52 did back in 2011. Let's hope it survives its own first wave.

The last panel of "Trinity War" leads directly into "Forever Evil", effectively making this one big event that begets another. It's a crime that both major syndicates are repeatedly guilty of these last few years, one so commonplace that it is increasingly difficult to take umbrage with a singular instance anymore. Regardless of whether this was just good salesmanship, the arc has been undeniably good storytelling from start to finish, cleverly weaving in threads set up two years ago in all related titles. While it may not be the conclusion that pre-Flashpoint DC fans were hoping for, and bears striking similarities to several endings from their marvellous neighbors, DC have just cracked open a Pandora's Box of possibilities for the next two years and beyond.

Pak gets dangerously close to diminishing some of Darkseid's power in this issue, but ultimately redeems it by reassuring us of his motivations. The art team does a solid job in representing both the new and old gods, even if the latter are not terribly visually interesting. It's a curious origin story, but not one that needed to be told to understand that Darkseid is a very, very bad man.

The basic building blocks are all here for an interesting introduction to a new world, but this is still ultimately the fundamental dilemma of Forever Evil. It's a beginning of something when it should be the dramatic apex following an already cataclysmic change. With the main story continuing in the pages of the seven-part Forever Evil mini-series, it's just hard to escape the feeling that DC's flagship title is being used here as a sideshow to the main event.

Ultimately, the issue doesn't bring us any closer to finding out what the current status of the "real" Justice League is, nor does it further the plans and schemes of the Crime Syndicate, save for the last few pages. It does, however, remain a solid piece of standalone storytelling, which would be terrific if we could take it as such. However, as part of a bigger piece of the arc, it certainly doesn't feel like essential reading.

At its core, Forever Evil is a solid concept, as evidenced by the strength of this week's main Forever Evil book, but tie-in issues such as this show the inherent weakness in stretching a good idea too thin. Sucking any of the life and momentum out of the threads Johns was playing with in "Trinity War" and the related arcs, Justice League, and by extension those books that relate to it, is now sitting very still and waiting for something to happen.

While the issue only mildly progresses the overall "Forever Evil" arc, Johns seems to enjoy bringing these long-absent characters back to life (albeit briefly) and the reading experience is all the more pleasurable for it. With the goal posts now finally in sight for the end of this event, there comes the corresponding sense that the landscape is going to have a very different population on the other side.

Can Lex Luthor really be a force for good? It's the question that Geoff Johns has been playing with since the end of Forever Evil, and even with the revelation of some of his plans, the compelling part of this arc is that it convinces you to constantly shift your allegiances.

Justice League #40 is an extended prelude, and as such it's designed to tease the next big arc, something that it does incredibly well. Yet it is necessarily coupled with the Divergence giveaway chapter, which is arguably a more compelling prologue than this. That interrelationship weakens both introductions, cheapening the start of DC's next big crossover and taking some of the wind out of the sails. That said, if this first issue is anything to go by, then "Darkseid War" is gearing up to be one of the biggest showdowns on the the far side of Covergence and The Multiversity.

Other creators take note: this is how JUSTICE LEAGUE is done. It might be a case of peaking early, but this opening salvo in "The Darkseid War" really has it all. Putting the Multiverse front and centre as a plot device, and pitting a classic Justice League line-up against one of the heaviest hitting villains, this has all the hallmarks of being a classic in the making.

It is unsurprising, given his heavy involvement in so many of the titles to date, but Johns' encyclopedic knowledge of the entire DC universe has never been more evident than in this issue. Threads from previous New 52 events, Earth 2 and beyond are all present in this outing, with reverberations of Convergence still being felt behind the panels. The absolute bombshell of a twist in the final pages not only flips the script on the concerned character, but leaves us hungrily wanting more.

Geoff Johns has barely given us pause for breath on the recent "The Darkseid War" run of Justice League, and this dive into the Multiverse is an exemplar of how to run a blockbuster epic in comicbooks.

More than anything, Johns knows how to stage a thriller, and the final pages of Justice League invariably lead to a cliffhanger. No matter how the dust settles next month, when "Darkseid War" finally reaches its conclusion, this saga will go down as one of the essential Justice League stories in the history of the medium.

At the end of his Green Lantern run, Johns showed us a forecast of events that were yet to come, not just challenging the next writer to top him, but throwing down the gauntlet and roadmap to ensure his will be done. With a cliffhanger ending of sorts, Johns does something similar here, although it's the fate of the entire DC Universe and not just Hal Jordan's world that hangs in the balance. Of course, Johns also accompanies this issue with his DC Universe Rebirth this week, and there is a literal death and rebirth in the pages of Justice League. With these two books, Johns has set a solid course for the future of the DCU, and the publisher just needs to find an equally set of safe hands to guide it forward.

The beauty of some of these "Futures End" titles is that they can wrap up character arcs well before their time, but its a mixed blessing. Both Captain Atom and the Martian Manhunter gain a sense of closure by the end of this issue, with the former's reminder of his humanity being particularly poignant. Yet as Martian Manhunter walks off like Shane into Mars' sunset, declaring that (like Poochie) his planet needs him, readers will be left wondering if this little foray was all much ado about nothing.

While the first issue in this series may have struggled to find the team's dynamic, Hitch is slowly bringing it together here. There's a genuine sense of threat, and that lack of team cohesion creates a war being fought on two fronts for the fledgling team. It's inevitably leading a climax where the separate parts become a whole, but for the moment leaves the reader with an odd sense of foreboding.

The conclusion to the issue is a cliffhanger that lives up to the promise of the grand beginning, and gives one of the less-defined Leaguers a new threat to contend with. If nothing else, Hitch keeps escalating the stakes of the issue so he has no choice but to bring it down hard when the first arc of the "Rebirth" title concludes next issue.

As the first issue in the “Outbreak” arc, Hitch and his art team have dropped the sequential art equivalent of a surround sound blast to the eardrums. There’s plenty of time for fleshing out the hows and whys, and focusing more on the characters tangential to the main story thrust, but for now we are more than content to see where the tracks of this locomotive lead us.

For what is partly a continuation of an existing story, JUSTICE LEAGUE 3001 can almost stand alone as its own book. There are enough new elements to pull existing readers in, while giving new audiences enough information to hit the ground running. For that is the real joy of this book, in always trying to catch up with the action. If you aren't reading this already, and you like a decent chuckle, it may be one of the funniest books on the market at the moment.

While many events that run across multiple titles often slap a logo on an existing series and call it a tie-in, quite the opposite is happening in "Trinity War". While the second chapter, in last week's Justice League of America #6, put the titular team in a supporting role, Lemire ensures that his team are an integral part of the overall arc in Justice League Dark #22. Seamlessly integrating the often convoluted world of magic alongside the capes and heroes, the team finally feels as though they are part of a wider DC universe. Indeed, in many ways, this appears to be the primary goal of "Trinity War", in that it unites the often disparate strands of the New 52.

This event may just be a massive advertisement for the next big thing, but that's true of all events and this one has been done particularly well. Janin's art is kinetic, using interesting layouts and vivid colours to carry the action. The few splash pages involving Shazam are frameable. Yet there are still so many loose ends, and with the event officially ending next week in Justice League #23, there are bound to be plenty more crossovers to come.

At the end of the day, readers may have a tough time buying into the idea that the Justice League of America could in any way be legitimate rivals to the all-star Justice League. Yet with an intriguing cliffhanger, and the promise of some interesting team dynamics to come, this is one that is worth a second look next month.

The problem with the book as an ongoing prospect is that this is simply not a team that ultimately works well together, from a story point of view at least. Seemingly preselected rather than organically grown out of another title, the odd mix don't stand out as individuals. We're mostly looking at you, Vibe

For a while it looked as though Justice League of America, replacing the cancelled Justice League International, would quickly follow the fate of its predecessor. Yet it is also becoming an integral part of the modern DCU. Now free of the boardrooms and discussions that dominated the first issue, the fieldwork proves to be intriguing.

Justice League of America #6 is the difficult middle chapter of the first half of this crossover, mostly serving to set up the introduction of the Justice League Dark chapter next week. To this end, the issue works successfully in building up the pieces of the broader puzzle, but it may leave readers attached to the core members of the team out in the cold. Regardless, the Trinity War remains one of the more thrilling events of the year, and it will be interesting to go back and place this book in context when the entire saga is done.

Rising from the ashes of Justice League International, this series may have taken a few months to find its feet. Yet what this event has so far achieved for the series is wrapping it inside the outstretched arms of the New 52, and embracing it as if it were a child of its own. The titular team was created to bring down the Justice League, but in narrative terms, they are doing a fine job complementing that title on a monthly basis.

A bit of an exception to the rule here, this is a one-off story that is just fun to read, regardless of whether it ties into anything. Floyd Lawton has always been a compelling anti-hero, driven by a combination of family loyalty and money. Written best by Gail Simone mid last decade, Matt Kindt does a fine job in bringing a suitably tragic tale to the New 52.

The great thing about the post-Convergence world is not just a willingness to tell different types of stories, but a variety of stories utilising the same characters. JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA proves there is room for more than one Justice League book on the block.

With a cliffhanger that reintroduces a massive figure in the Kryptonian's mythology, Hitch has us snagged from the beginning. If it seemed unlikely that another Justice League book was needed at the moment, then this allays those fears by filling the void with pure DC comic bookery. What begins ostensibly as a Superman story about putting himself first for a change, turns into a piece that plants the seeds for a tale about what makes the Justice League special.

Picking up on themes explored recently in Geoff Johns' "Men of Tomorrow" arc in Superman (not to mention J. Michael Straczynski's Superman: Earth One and the Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice notes it inspired), Hitch couches his ponderings in some heavy-hitting action as well. Operating three concurrent storylines that all promise to intersect at some point, Hitch has not let us down in thus run so far, and shows no signs of doing it any time soon.

ike a Trojan horse arriving in plain sight, the kicker for fans is that this issue ends with a final "Discover the truth about J'onn and Mars in Martian Manhunter." One has to wonder if there would be this overwhelming sense of feature-length advertising if the issue had dropped at the ended release date, following the end of the "Rao" arc. Released out of order as it is, there is no sense of urgency to the issue, and it's just a leisurely romp through the mind of a character that had only recently been fully restored to the DCU. Nevertheless, the next issue of Justice League of America will be highly anticipated as a return not only to the story that as captivated these last few months, but hopefully a return to form as well.

Minds are not exactly being blown yet. Immediately hired by A.R.G.U.S, the same secret branch of the US military that is putting the Justice League of America together, it is too early to tell whether the hero, or this book, can stand on its own two legs. Our prediction is a fifth (or is it sixth?) wave replacement for this title, but is worth a look as an a "bonus feature" to Justice League of America #1.

Justice League of America: The Atom Rebirth #1 is a classic origin story, but nevertheless feels fresh and accessible for both new and old audiences. It’s also a massive tease as well, directing us to next month’s Justice League of America: Rebirth #1 to “follow the adventures of The Atom.” Yet Orlando, who will also pen that one-shot, ensures that no matter what size the diminutive hero plays int the narrative, he will be noticed.

While this isn't the most groundbreaking or revelatory of the one-shots released in this series to date, it is still a solid character-based approach that gets to the heart of what this event is really about. After all, if absolute power is said to corrupt absolutely, the exploration of what that same power does to already corrupt is just as interesting.

Hal Jordan often gets a bum rap from some fans when it comes to comparative Lantern lore, with successor Kyle Rayner unquestionably less of an insufferable jerk than Hal could often be. (There's also the small matter of Hal slaughtering all of his comrades once upon a time, but we'll just quietly put that to one side for the moment). Yet this is one of those rare pieces that gets to the heart of a character by defining who he is by those actions he chooses not to take, a decision that will certainly have ramifications before this event is through.

Justice League: The Darkseid War: Batman #1 is but a small vignette in a larger epic, and is to be continued in the Justice League run, yet it is also one that mostly works outside of the confines of that saga. It would be very easy to see this as another set of tie-ins to an overblown event, but instead this is a rare time where the opportunity is being taken to explore the impact a major twist has on the individual members of the League.

There are so many reasons that this series shouldn't work as well as it does: it's an unlikely combination of heroes, and a Multiversal McGuffin that could be exchanged out for just about anything, and the well-publicized behind the panel shenanigans that led to the scrapping of some issues. Yet writer Joshua Williamson's exploration of the Ghost Sector and the planets coming out of Colu is as exciting and new as the worlds of Dark Knights: Metal.

Perhaps where Kick-Ass 3 falters is in finding the right hook for an audience that has bathed in the blood, sweat and fears of these characters already. However, Millar seems to be legitimately interested in developing these characters again, turning them from caricatures back into real humans with real problems. He hints in an afterword that this is the final arc for many a reason, and perhaps that is all the hook we really need to keep going in this always busy series.

There are some seriously awe-striking moments in King, and the basic premise is unquestionably a lot of fun. So while it feels complete weird to say this in relation to a book that has a bruiser of a leather-bound biker duck and pterodactyl in a Lakers jersey, there's still a vague sense that we've been down part of this road before. Fialkov and his terrific art team have defined the parameters of this strange future world, and what they do with it next will be of particular interest.

DC's New 52 is hitting a strong average this month with debut issues, and Klarion adds a sense of the magic surreal to the DCU that has been missing for some decades now. Nocenti's mesmerising tale is bolstered by McCarthy and Major's magnificent art, something that can be devoured over and over again.

It is early days yet in this six-issue mini-series, leaving us with a key moment in the origin story of Santa. Like many of Morrison's works, this first issue presents us with a series of puzzle pieces. We know roughly what it is supposed to look like by the end of the run, but the joy of getting will be in seeing how he fits all of these disparate threads together and wraps them up in a bow.

"The Korvac Saga" is a classic story that has been adapted in various animated series, but in the context of Secret Wars it's mostly an excuse to throw the original Guardians of the Galaxy against a version of The Avengers.

This is ultimately the hurdle that Lazarus has to overcome, presenting a series of overly familiar situations without sufficient reasons to care about the fairly standard characters found within. The opening hook is an interesting, albeit violent, one and sets the tone for this first issue. There are enough concepts here for Rucka to run with throughout this ongoing, which is why a second look is justified next month, yet this first issue does little to distinguish itself from the plethora of similar books on the market.

Once again, Michael Lark is one of the main reason to pick up this book. Despite the sci-fi leanings and the dystopian setting, it's as if Lark has taken up a pencil and merely recorded the reality he sees in front of him. Coupled with the earthy colours of Santi Arcas, Lazarus is a cinematic event presented as sequential art.

As good as the set-up is, with a cracking set of action sequences and witty one-liners, a big question mark hangs over whether this can continue to distinguish itself as a necessary separate entity from Star-Lord's already ripping team book. That said, if every issue is fast-paced as this one, we'll barely have time to draw breath to ask that question.

Lobo, both the book at the character, certainly works much better in this new incarnation, and there is far more scope and potential for this version than any that has come before. The OG Lobo will undoubtedly have his faithful minions, and that Czarnian will forever remain a part of comic book history, filed under the excesses of the late 1980s and 1990s. New Lobo is still slightly tied to his past, and perhaps a victim of convention, but he's also undoubtedly a fun new addition to the DCU.

At the risk of coming off as a bit of a Grinch, The Adventures of Luna the Vampire takes a lot of work to love. The nonsensical stories and the simple conclusions will alienate large chunks of the audience, and the very specific form will mean that it will only appeal to a small section of the rest. Then again, the Grinch came around in the end, and maybe Luna the Vampire just needs to give us more to sink our teeth into.

We've been sorely neglecting this outstanding series for the last few months, simply because it has taken us a while to catch up with everything. It's a serious crime, because Brian Wood's own creation is seriously good. It shouldn't be surprising from the guy who brought us DMZ and Northlanders, but Wood continues to build his future dystopia flawlessly, revealing just enough details to get us permanently hooked.

With one issue left, we are left with the question of whether Mara Prince is irredeemable or incorruptible. One of the joys of this book has been in discovery, and with only one final chapter to go, we still can't guess what is coming next. In an age where comic arc are spoiled months in advance, the element of surprise is a welcome feature.

MARTIAN MANHUNTER fans will undoubtedly be overjoyed to see their favourite green shape-shifter (possibly after Beast Boy) get his own series again at last. However, it is not the most accessible beast just yet, but with any luck it will morph into something more user friendly in the coming months. Still one to watch.

For the 80th anniversary of the company, Marvel has once again revived the anthology series that bears the company's name. It's a mixed bag, with two of the three stories focusing on the Second World War.

The issue begins with a quote lifted from Bruce Springsteen's 1995 song "The New Timer" from the album The Ghost of Tom Joad, itself a reference to a character originally from John Steinbeck's 1939 classic The Grapes of Wrath. That song and album told parallels between the Dust Bowl period and the 1990s, in the same way that Aaron draws comparisons between images over a century apart. It perfectly sets the tone for a series that promises to be another of Aaron's musings on the nature of hereditary violence in America.

Midnight of the Soul is a mystery, of course, with the catalyst being the ubiquitous girl in trouble. Yet the mystery of her nocturnal activities and the cause of her trouble is almost second to the mystery of where the parallel threads of Joel's life intersect, from the frequent flashbacks to the War through to his anger over the developments in this issue. It's a puzzle worth pondering, and it will be curious to see how it unfolds as Chaykin continues to level his gaze at a very particular period in American history.

Some will focus on violence being a part of the DCU, while others will point to Midnighter's open homosexuality, but either way MIDNIGHTER is one of the most promisingly progressive books DC has released in the last five years

The final pages will shock and much as they intrigue, and with all the controversy surrounding sex in comics over the last few weeks, we wonder if this first issue's final image will raise any eyebrows in conservative media. It's a stunning debut issue from someone who has already mastered the surreal. Here we watch him harness it, darken it and ride it hard for our entertainment. Bring it on.

The magazine style format of the publication gives the reading experience a quality that is tangibly different to reading any other book on the market, which is possibly the best way to describe this increasingly intriguing series.

Interestingly, Bunn and Vost split the writing between Venom and Scarlet Spider/Kaine, resulting in very different styles for the very different characters. Medina's clean art gives this event series an easily accesible shop-front, mirroring a cinematic layout, with enough splash moments to satiate the fanboys and girls.

Smith has commented that the heavy references to The Goonies are not coincidental, and that the frequent references will be essential to book as the series progresses. This kind of intertextual dialogue is not uncommon in retro-inspired works, but this self-awareness also speaks to what the reader brings to the book. No work is ever created in a bubble, but what Smith has done here is take a concept that could have been a simple old-school adventure and instead created something that will hopefully inclusively inspire a new generation, along with hooking us in for the next issue.

If you've ever wanted to get into the Mortal Kombat franchise but felt that the video games had far too much movement and interactivity for your tastes, then this comic series may have been what you've been looking for all your life. Diehards will no doubt add a couple of points to this rating, and they may be plentiful. However, as an entre to the series, it really only acts as fan-service, and no new fans are likely to be won over in the process.

The intriguing premise is filled with shadow groups, significant symbols, dream logic, and space travel to save a dying planet, but there is a lot going on for a first issue. It's difficult to follow at times, but for now they must be considered puzzle pieces for a greater whole.

In its current format, Looker reads like a TV pilot of a Angel-style investigative mystery series. Coupled with a beautiful Guillem March cover, and equally lush Mike S. Miller interiors, this is one we hope gets picked up for series.

There might be a problem when things are already a bit confusing by the second main tie-in issue with Jonathan Hickman's Infinity, but this issue does focus on the far more interesting aspects of the Infinity crisis.

If you are looking for a book that has got all the delightfully bad characters you love simply blowing things up, then New Suicide Squad just might be the title for you. Setting up future rivalries signals some interesting potential storylines, but for now it remains a solid piece of brain candy.

While human rocket Richard Rider will undoubtedly return in the future, for now this is set to be Ultimate Spider-man in space, and that concept " combined with plenty of crossover potential for Guardians " makes this one of the first great debuts of 2013.

Coupled with Guardians of the Galaxy and the events of Age of Ultron, we get the feeling that this will serve as one of the major titles for Marvel in 2013 and beyond, so you may as well jump aboard now.

This is a fun and energetic issue, leading up to something big, but we've been building up to it for three issues now. We can't wait to see what is unleashed in the next two issues, because this bit is well and truly chomped at. McGuinness matches Loeb pound for pound, and the subtleties of a very one-sided conversation with The Watcher are some of the most priceless moments in the book. Brings the "Now!" into the Marvel NOW! line.

The introduction of a new anti-villain/anti-hero might give the series a bit more direction at this point, but it is worrying that it has taken well over 80 pages to get here. At the end of the day, we are still suckers for Marvel's cosmic universe and will see this through to the bitter end. We hope there's a creamy and sweet centre.

Occupy Comics puts its money where its mouth is, donating 100% of the monies received to people involved in the actual Occupy movement. If you want to support this important moment in history, or you just like reading a whole lot of great writers and artists in one place (the list of names is growing), then support this book and any of the subsequent ones that come out.

A difficult jumping on point, THE OMEGA MEN aims high, but also asks a lot from the audience for a debut issue. A little homework is required in advance of reading this issue, not least of which is the 8-page preview Marvel released last month. One to watch, although we're just not sure why yet.

The Peanuts: The Snoopy Special #1 is effectively a sampler of the work that Kaboom! has been doing over the last few years in bringing Snoopy and the crew back to life. It's a bit of a cop-out that this tie-in special contains a chunk of material from a book that was only released two months ago, but peppered as it is with some actual Schulz strips, it's a timely reminder of how sharp and adaptable these characters and scenarios were in the 1950s and today.

Penny Dora & The Wishing Box #1 is the first issue in a planned five-issue arc, with the writer already planning a second arc to follow this one. It's a familiar story, albeit one that is incredibly readable, and it's easy to see how this could become a modern all-ages favorite, with the right mixture of youthful exploration, cautionary tale, and sheer magic. It's even got a cat for good measure. What more could any discerning reader want from their fantasy stories?

While this mini-series isn't an ongoing in the New 52, it could quite easily fit into there without any effort, and pacing issues aside, it is a hell of a lot of fun. Artwork from Cat Staggs, who is best known for her work with the Star Wars/Lucasfilm family, is spot-on for the tone of the tale, bringing life and allure to Phantom Lady without it being just another plastic pin-up. Indeed, it's a strong issue for female artists, with Amanda Conner behind the eye-catching front cover as well. One to keep an eye on.

This issue is the first to deliver on the promise of the bigger story that will lead us into next year's Trinity War, but it is nothing more than exposition with a bit of uninspiring art behind it. What begins by covering the same ground as the FCBD book rapidly becomes a weighty, pseudo-biblical tale, plodding through a ton of explanatory text for what is otherwise a fairly straightforward story.

A gripping first chapter to a 4-part mini-series that has convincingly set the scene and left us with a score of questions that will draw us immediately back next month. Miller is not the first to scratch at the dark substance that lurks beneath the surface of the circus, but placing the source of terror to be largely within the mind of a young girl who is discovering her own identity for the first time makes this a compelling read from start to finish. Highly recommended for fans who like their horror a little more on the psycho-surreal side.

Much of this issue is a build-up to something that never pays off, and there is a confrontation still brewing. While Hill and Hawkins do a good job of maintaining that tension for much of this issue, the immediate payoff seems a little bit of a cop-out. Perhaps it is simply because the first half of this series to date has been so superb that deviations feel poor in comparison, but Postal is still at its heart a book with a unique view, and works best when that view is allowed to take center stage.

Lopresti's Power Cubed is a little bit anachronistic, but that's just part of the charm that nevertheless makes it a barrel of fun. Filling out the ranks with a hi-tech Jiminy Cricket in the form of a small anthropomorphic robot named Click, and a mysterious redheaded cop whose loyalties remain ambiguous, the plethora of elements could run the risk of being overloaded. Yet Lopestri has so far balanced them all in a kind of dream logic that only makes sense in this kind of shamelessly confident adventure story.

Power Lines might not always be a wholly original debut, but it is nevertheless an important one. Robinson throws out some intriguing plot points that warrant further investigation, and it's clear that there's a deeper mythology that he is itching to explore. It's a tough criticism, but Power Lines does suffer in comparison with Robinson's superb work of the last few years, but perhaps that it is because it doesn't slap